We Are Broken
by cryptickate
Summary: (Note: Spoilers for Rapture! All characters in the Fallen series belong to Lauren Kate.) Takes place after Rapture. Cam shows up at Luce's college and saves her life. But did he save her just because he enjoys making her life miserable? She doesn't know it yet, but Cam will make sure she won't forget him again, one way or another... Cam/Luce. Daniel/Luce.
1. Chapter 1

**We Are Broken**

It was one of those days. Gloomy skies, pouring rain, and icy air that made your ears hurt. Luce thought this morning could not get any worse. Until she saw him running towards her. Before she could react, he grabbed her umbrella.

"Thanks! I'll give it back later!" He yelled as he ran towards the university library without looking back.

"Hey! I need that!" Luce said, running after him.

"Don't forget. You owe me," He said, turning back to glare at her once before he ran faster. Too fast for her to catch up.

Luce gave up on chasing him and seeked shelter under a nearby building's awning. Shivering and wringing water out of her wet hoodie, she thought about what he said. "You owe me." His words made her remember the day when they first met, only around two weeks ago.

The weather was also terrible that day. Dark and menacing clouds swirled and raced across the sky. It was very windy and cold by the time Luce got out of her last class that evening. She was walking towards her dorm, lost in thought, worrying about the test she just took. The wind was howling as if wailing ghosts were flying overhead, but she barely noticed. She let it push her forward as she tried to remember certain questions on the test that she might have answered wrong. Luce vaguely heard a male voice yelling at her. She ignored him. But then a loud, strange cracking sound in the sky finally got her attention. Luce looked up.

She knew it was already too late as she helplessly watched the huge tree branch falling towards her. Suddenly somebody grabbed her, both of them falling and then rolling away from the tree. It happened so fast. A second later, the branch smashed to the ground, missing them by inches. Luce stared at the broken mess of leaves and splintered wood in horror. Breathing hard and shaking, she held on tighter to the guy that was still holding her in his strong arms.

"Thank you! Oh my God... Thank you!" Luce said, hugging him.

He held her tighter for a moment, but then quickly let her go and stood up. Luce studied him silently as he brushed off the dirt and leaves from his grey t-shirt and dark jeans. Her hero was tall, had sexy long (to his chin), dark brown (almost black) hair, deep green eyes, an angular face, and sharp features. He was gorgeous. And now he was looking at her. Luce quickly looked down, avoiding eye contact. Her face was hot. She was about to ask him what his name was when she noticed a large cut on his right arm.

"You're bleeding! Are you okay?" Luce said. She looked back at the dirt path they were on and noticed some sharp rocks. She was okay because she had a thick coat on, but his arms were bare.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," He flatly said, as if he was not in pain at all. And he did not seem cold either.

"You got hurt because of me. I'm sorry! Let me take you to the health center," She said.

"I don't need your help, Luce!" He said, holding onto his wounded arm with his other hand. "Just be careful out here. You can't die so easily, you know."

"How...do you know my name? Do I know you?" Luce asked.

He laughed bitterly and turned to walk away, shaking his head. She thought she heard him swore and then mutter "I can't do this again."

"Wait, what's your name?" Luce shouted.

He kept walking. Luce stood there, completely confused and still in shock. _What the hell just happened? _Finally, he turned around and gave her a wicked smile.

"I'm Cam. And I just saved your life. You owe me."

...

...

Luce stared at the couple sitting a few rows in front of her. The girl was leaning on the guy's shoulder as the room darkened and the documentary started. She sighed, wishing Daniel was here. It would not exactly be romantic, since this was a lecture hall and not a movie theater. And her anthropology class was watching a documentary about paganism, not a topic that made her want to cuddle. But she liked having Daniel beside her, even if she was not doing anything special. Just thinking about him made her smile. Her phone vibrated and she immediately checked it, hoping he just texted her. It was a text, but not from her boyfriend. It was from her other "bf", her best friend, Aubrey.

Aubrey: My life sucks. I hate everything.

Luce: Lol. That's what you say everyday.

Aubrey: Because it's true.

Luce: At least you don't have to worry about a bully making your life miserable. AND he lives in the same dorm as I do! It's been one month of this...calling me names, "borrowing" my stuff or money, pranking me, making me get coffee or lunch for him.

Aubrey: Oh...right. Cam. He's hot.

Luce: I don't care if he is, he's a jerk!

Aubrey: Why do you let him push you around? I mean, even if he did save your life...

Luce: Well...I'm not sure. He is a total creep and seems to enjoy being mean to me. But...I do owe him. I dunno. I've had plenty of experience dealing with bullies and he's not that bad, actually. He will get bored with me and move on. And I have a hard time saying no to him... NOT because he's good-looking. I don't know...It's hard to explain...

Aubrey: Hmm. I get it... Honestly, I wouldn't mind being bullied by him. Lol. It almost seems like he's teasing you because he likes you. Some guys do that, you know. It's stupid, but they do it to get your attention.

Luce: No way. We hate each other. That's all. Anyway, I'm already taken.

Aubrey: Yes, everyone knows Daniel is THE ONE for you. You guys make me sick. One of those PERFECT couples everyone hates. But seriously, why don't you tell Daniel about Cam already? Maybe he can get him to stop bothering you.

Luce: Umm...no, I'm sure they'll get in a fight. That would be bad. You know how Daniel gets jealous easily and is very protective of me. I can deal with Cam on my own. Don't worry...

Someone suddenly grabbed the phone from Luce and she looked up to see that it was Cam. Of course it was. He often showed up randomly to ruin her day. And he was already reading her and Aubrey's text conversation. Luce desperately tried to retrieve her phone, but he kept pushing her away and she did not want to make a scene right in the middle of the lecture hall.

"Cam. Give me back my phone!" She whispered.

"You think I'm hot," He glanced at her and smiled in that arrogant way that he knew she hated.

"I never said that! That was Aubrey."

"But you did say I was good-looking."

"Fine, you're a hottie, whatever. But I still hate you."

"That's ok, because I feel the exact same way about you."

Luce stared at him for a moment. Wait, did he mean he hated her too, or that he hated her AND he thought she was hot? Cam's expression was blank as he said it. He casually dropped her phone into her lap and got up to leave. He was in this class, but he almost never showed up. Today, it seemed like he came just to spy on her and be mean to her. Just like always. Well, she was sick of it.

"Hey!" Luce said a little too loudly, but he kept walking towards the door.

She ignored her professor and her classmates' disapproving looks and grabbed her backpack and ran after him. Cam was already on the tree-lined path that lead away from the building when Luce ran down the stairs. She yelled again to get his attention and he finally stopped and turned around. He seemed surprised and amused that she followed him outside.

"I've had enough. So what if you saved me? That doesn't give you the right to invade my privacy, to order me around, to steal my things! What is wrong with you? Seriously! I've put up with a lot of your crap because I was...I must have been scared of you. But enough is enough. I didn't do anything wrong. I don't deserve this! So...just leave me alone, or else I'll tell my boyfriend everything and...and I'll ask the faculty for help if necessary," She said.

Luce was proud of herself for standing up to him. He looked stunned and was speechless as he slowly walked towards her. Her heart was beating so fast. Now he just stared at her intently. She wondered if this was a good idea. It wasn't like her to be so spontaneous and outspoken, but she just couldn't take it anymore.

Cam's hand reached towards her shoulder but stopped abruptly when she flinched away. He withdrew his hand and looked upset. But he quickly regained his composure and offered her a friendly smile.

"Whoa. Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. I would never... I'm sorry. I was just messing with you. But I realize I've gone too far today. I have been taking advantage of you. Please don't freak out and tell your boyfriend or anyone. I don't want to get in trouble. And like you said, you don't want your boyfriend to beat me up and get in trouble too, right?"

"Okay...I won't tell anyone if you promise to leave me alone from now on."

"I promise. You don't owe me anything. We can go back to being strangers, Luce. Would that make you happy?"

"Very much," She tried to say with certainty, though she was not sure that was what she wanted.

"Great. I would love that, too." Cam said coldly. "Goodbye, Lucinda." He turned around and walked away. Only his balled up fists betrayed his cool exterior, but even that for just a moment. He quickly shoved his hands inside his jeans and started humming to himself.

"Goodbye..." Luce said quietly, too late, after he was too far away to hear.

Luce sighed. Why did she feel bad? She was the victim. Yet she somehow sensed that he was not really a bad guy. She should be relieved, but the sad look in his eyes when she moved away from him made her almost feel guilty. And Luce had secretly hoped they could eventually be friends. That was the main reason she put up with all the things he did. Deep down, she felt like they should be friends...that they had been friends before, maybe in another life.

* * *

_I'm so happy to get back to writing after so long! Reading about 50 Shades of Grey in the news (got me thinking about fanfiction), Camp Nanowrimo that's coming up in April (participating for the 1st time ever!), and finding out that Lauren Kate is writing a new book for Cam that will be released later this year (Unforgiven will be on sale in November!)...all these things made me want to write a new fanfic for Cam and Luce. Also, I said I would write one when I get inspired and have good ideas, and I've got a ton recently!_

_Also, I'm excited because this will be my first long Fallen fanfiction. I'm not sure how many chapters it will have yet. But I'm sure it'll be longer than all my previous Fallen fics. Also, it's mainly Cam/Luce, but there will be Daniel/Luce moments, too. Which is tough for me, because i usually only write for just 2 people in most of my fics. but i want to make it more balanced and be a real love triangle, so..._

_But I have read very little of the book Writing Fiction for Dummies that I mentioned last year. =( I am reading a little everyday now, though. Hopefully by the time Camp Nanowrimo starts, I can improve my writing skills somewhat._

_I have all these bits and pieces of ideas for scenes, but I don't want to spend too much time writing this fic. Lol. I also don't want you all to have to wait forever for me to figure out the story and then write and edit and rewrite. I hope you don't mind if I just write a lot of kind of drabbles. It will be in fragments, but they will connect and make sense. You just don't get all the details of why things happened, sometimes. _

_I will try to write around 1 hour each day. And I will try to only go over it once real quick to check for spelling errors or maybe rewrite some of it. I will try to post up a new chapter each week, with maybe 1-3 scenes each. I'm not sure yet. But I want each chapter to feel like a chapter. Not too short, not too long. _

_By the way, in my mind, Cam looks and acts like Caleb Rivers (Pretty Little Liars TV character). Tyler Blackburn. I loveee him. and Luce looks like Kaya Scodelario. She's always been a fan favorite for Luce. Daniel will be like Jeremy Irvine. xD_

_I HOPE YOU LIKE MY STORY! =) If you do, please FAVORITE / REVIEW / FOLLOW! It might help me write faster and more! _

_(Oh, the title of the story, I got from a Paramore song. There are many songs [not necessarily by Paramore] that remind me of Cam/Luce's or Daniel/Luce's relationship. I made a Spotify playlist from these songs and often listen to them when I'm writing. If you have Spotify, just search for "fallen" and it should show up! i'm kateeeee24twilight there.)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Adjusting the guitar strap on his shoulder, Cam's emerald eyes perused the crowded restaurant again. It was a restaurant and arcade combined. _Too many colorful flashing lights, too loud, too many kids. _But right now, it was a refuge for this dark angel. All the noise, games, and beer helped him forget about her and his unwanted mission. One week had passed since Luce demanded that he stay away from her. So, he did. Out of habit, he still found himself trailing behind her sometimes, but fortunately she never noticed. It was painful to know she hated him. But she _should _hate him. Even he hated himself.

The song Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones was blaring from the Guitar Hero arcade game. Cam's fingers flew over the colored buttons of the guitar. The song suited his mood perfectly. _I look inside myself and see my heart is black. I see a red door and I want it painted black. No colors any more, I want them to turn black._ He pretended it was his electric guitar and got completely lost in the music, headbanging like a rock star. The vibrating phone in his jeans pocket interrupted his trance. He cursed and ignored it. There could be only one person who was calling him, the only person he was speaking to recently. But Cam did not want to talk to him right now. By the time he finished the song, his smartphone was still buzzing, as if a tenacious bee was trying to get his attention. The caller was an annoying, winged friend, indeed.

"What?" Cam said, as he put the guitar back in its place on the game machine. He walked over to a less noisy area, near the path to the restrooms.

"Finally decided to pick up the phone, huh? I've called you five times today. Where are you? Is she there?" Roland asked.

"Sorry, I forgot my phone in my room earlier, _boss_," he said sarcastically. "I'm at an arcade. And she's...around."

"What does that mean? What's wrong with you these days? There's no time for games. She's in danger, Cam. You need to stay close and protect her."

"You know how difficult it is for me to be close to her... Can't someone else take my place? Besides, except for that one incident around one month ago, nothing else has happened. Maybe you're wrong, maybe it was just an accident."

"I understand your doubts and why you are frustrated, but be patient, Cam. All I'm asking is that you be her temporary bodyguard until I can find an angel powerful enough who is willing to do it. And I would like to think it's just a rumor, but you know how _he_ feels about revenge."

Cam groaned and nodded reluctantly. "Okay. I'll hold down the fort as long as I can. Don't worry... You still haven't been able to get in touch with Arriane or Annabelle? If a girl follows Luce around, at least she wouldn't get so paranoid. And maybe we could do like a day shift, night shift thing. I really need a break from all this creepy stalking that you're making me do."

"Not yet. But I'm going to try looking for them at their usual hangouts. Or they might not even be anywhere on Earth. If they're _up there_, then I'll have to ask someone to give them the message for me. That will take longer."

Cam sighed. "I understand..."

"And don't worry about following her around...doesn't the stalker get the girl in that book about hot, glittering vampires and that one about the kinky Grey guy with the Red Room? Or maybe you would prefer a black room?"

"What the hell, Roland! Are YOU stalking me? How did you know I was playing Paint It, Black?" Cam searched for his familiar face among the people playing games and eating dinner at their tables but could not find him.

Roland laughed. "That was just a lucky guess. I'm too busy to check up on you. You've always liked wearing black clothes. I just assumed if you had a room like that, it would be the Black Room of Pain."

"Don't even joke about it. I'm not going to try to break them up. Not this time. They deserve to have a long, happy, boring mortal life together. And it's been almost eighteen years since I last saw her. So much has changed. I don't feel that way about her anymore."

"I'm sorry, Cam. I was just trying to lighten the mood. I know that I can trust you. Daniel is like a brother to both me and you. I know you won't do anything to ruin his and Luce's relationship. Not after all they've had to go through to finally be together."

"I would never do that," Cam assured him. "And I don't wear black clothes all the time anymore. I do have different colored clothing, you know. I have to try to fit in with the students on campus. I can't do that if I look like I'm going to a funeral all the time."

"Really? That's good. We wouldn't want them to think you're 'fifty shades of fucked-up'."

"Screw you," Cam said. "I don't have time for your stupid jokes. I gotta go."

"Okay. Good luck, man." Roland couldn't help chuckling again.

Cam tapped on the screen, ending the call. He went into the men's bathroom. No one was there. He checked underneath the stall doors to make sure. Cam looked in the mirror for a moment, straightening his blue plaid shirt that he wore unbuttoned, over his grey t-shirt. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, mentally preparing himself for what he was going to see. For some reason, it still made him very uncomfortable seeing Luce go on dates with Daniel. He refused to describe it as jealousy. It was just annoying to see them so deeply in love. _Their heavy-handed public displays of affection would bother anyone._

Of course, Cam knew where they were. It was the first day of spring break and they were celebrating by going to a Paramore concert. The amphitheatre was nearby, but he didn't have a ticket, so he would just have to use an Announcer to get inside. Cam grasped at a shadow behind the sink and easily formed it into a large, floating rectangular shape and stepped inside the black void.

Seconds later, Cam emerged from the Announcer and it vanished behind him. The cool night air and darkness greeted him as he stood in an empty row of seats at the back of the venue. The first thing to assault his senses was the roar of the cheering audience as an upbeat, infectious drum groove started. He checked his watch and guessed that this was the last song, Brick By Boring Brick. Cam gave himself a mental pat on the back for his good timing. He liked this song. Hayley Williams was sporting a glowing, electric blue, messy short haircut tonight. She fervently shouted out "One, two...one, two, three, four!" and the band brought the song to life. The booming, pulsating music took over the stadium, flooding it with a rebellious, fiery energy. She started to sing as Cam made his way to the long set of stairs in between two big sections of hyper, screaming fans.

_Oh, she lives in a fairy tale. Somewhere too far for us to find. Forgotten the taste and smell. Of a world that she's left behind._

Cam strode down the stairs towards the stage, which was now lit up by pyrotechnics. Bright orange flames shot upwards out of several torches at the front of the stage and streams of dazzlingfireworks burst from both sides of the stage. He could sense that Luce and Daniel were among the people with the best seats at the concert. Even though they were now mortals, their exceptionalsouls glowed brighter than their fellow humans and it was easy to spot them in a crowd. Soon, he reached the stage and found Luce and Daniel in the group of frenzied fans. Cam was careful to keep his distance as he watched her dance with wreckless abandon. It reminded him of Taylor Swift's Shake It Off music video that he kept seeing on the TV in the food court at the university. She was definitely not a good dancer, but he found it amusing, nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Daniel was more low-key, his hands in his jeans pockets, only slightly jerking his head and tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music. The smooth and unaffected Mr. Cool, as always. His eyes were drawn to Luce again, which was when he noticed her odd outfit. She was wearing a mint green, ruffled camisole with a black denim jacket that looked a few sizes too big for her, and light blue jeans. Daniel was wearing a thin burgundy hoodie and dark jeans. Cam rolled his eyes and folded his arms. _Of course. It's a little chilly, and Daniel lends her his jacket. What a gentleman. Still sticking with the tired red and black combination, I see._ Irritated by their intimacy, he ignored them.

As expected, near the end of the song, the confetti cannons went off with two loud thumps. Countless sparkling, fluttering paper floated down from the night sky. Cam watched them falling and slowly realized they were not confetti. They were millions of small, gold feathers. His body immediately grew tense and his heart raced. The band and concert goers only seemed slightly surprised to see feathers instead of confetti. But Cam knew that this was _his_ calling card. This was what he was afraid of. A clear sign that Lucifer was after Luce. This was his brazen message for Cam, a warning of who he was up against...none other than Satan himself. The prince of darkness, evil incarnate. Except he most likely was not here, only sending one of his minions to carry out his orders. Cam quickly scanned the crowd and the sky, but did not see anybody suspicious. He moved closer to Luce and Daniel, who, like the rest of the audience, were still enjoying the music, oblivious to what the golden feathers meant. They had no idea that this arena was about to turn into a death trap. But no matter what, he would protect Luce. He supposed he would also have to save Daniel, but if he could only keep one of them safe, it would have to be her. Daniel could probably take care of himself, anyway.

"Round two. Bring it on." Cam cracked his knuckles, flexed his shoulders, and stretched his neck side to side.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

OMG. FINALLY DONE. I'm sorry for taking forever, everyone. I hope you didn't think I had stopped writing. If I ever decide to stop, I'll definitely leave a note here to tell you, instead of just leaving you wondering what happened and if I'll continue (though I hope I don't ever have to do that...I have so many ideas for this story! I want to finish it, not stop halfway!). I had some major laptop problems, RL problems, writer's block, etc., so that's why it took me so long. I can't promise that the next chapters will come out faster, but I hope they will. Lol.

I hope you like reading Cam's perspective! I love reading books with both the MC's perspectives, so I'm going to have dual POV's for this fanfiction. Probably just Luce and Cam. Sorry, no Daniel POV, it's too much work for me if I have to write out all his thoughts too. Well, possibly there might be some Daniel POV, but I doubt it.

By the way, Camp Nano is so much fun! My cabin mates are nice and our cabin is not too quiet or too active. And the forum is so awesome. A lot of helpful writing/Camp Nano tips and lots of interesting people, interesting threads, interesting stories being written. A lot of fantasy writers there, much kinda makes me want to make this fanfiction more "magical", but we'll see. Hmm... Because I'm not very good at fantasy/supernatural stuff...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Thunderous applause and screaming made the whole arena rumble, as the singer sang the last words of the song. The flames and fireworks on stage shined brighter and reached towards the sky at the same time the music faded away after its crescendo. Cam vaguely heard Hayley Williams thanking the applauding crowd. He was deep in thought, trying to come up with all the possible ways that they could be attacked and how he would save Luce. An amphitheatre like this could hold up to sixteen thousand people. _Damn it. A lot of people could get hurt, or worse._

The band members gradually took their leave and the stage became empty and dark. The concertgoers started to get up and leave, too. Tiny gold feathers littered the whole arena. Daniel gave Luce a quick kiss on the cheek and took her hand. They started walking away from the stage, joining the viscuous sea of people making their way outside. Cam followed them but continued cautiously looking around, his body humming with energy, his wings wanting to break free from his shoulders. Just as he convinced himself Lucifer would not try to harm her here and risk getting God's attention, a deafening explosion went off behind the stage. _Shit. It's a bomb. _The overpowering heat and shockwave knocked down everyone nearby, except Cam. He ran over to where Daniel and Luce were and held her by the arm and waist, pulling her up gently. Hands over her ears and fear in her eyes, she gasped when she recognized him. But she was still in shock, her body shaking. Cam pulled her close to him, holding her by the waist protectively. Tears streamed down her face as she leaned against his chest, her eyes squeezed shut.

Cam tried to stay calm among the fans screaming in terror, running away from the stage and desperately trying to escape. He noticed that the stage was unscathed. Flames from the explosion looked a bit far from the stage, only burning the trees in the surrounding area. But it was enough to turn the audience into a panicked, dangerous mob. He was not about to let Luce get trampled in the mad rush out of this place. Before she could regain her composure and cling to Daniel, Cam bent down and draped her body over his shoulders, using a Fireman's Carry. His muscular arms held her in place, one arm grasping her thigh and one holding her arm. Luce started protesting, but Cam ignored her. By now, Daniel had stood up and had an alarmed expression on his face as he realized what Cam was doing.

"Let her go!" Daniel tried to pull Cam's arms away from Luce's body. She struggled to break free from his grip and hit his back several times with her other hand.

"I'm trying to save her, you idiot! Back off!" Cam yelled.

"Who are you, anyway? I'm her boyfriend. We didn't ask for your help. Now, drop her!"

_Damn it. We're losing precious time because of this fool. I've had enough. _Cam shut his eyes and mumbled a few words to himself. Daniel and Luce immediately fainted. A big, muscular guy that looked like he could be a football quarterback ran by. He had a buzzcut and looked like a tough guy. Cam stared at him as he silently recited some words and snapped his fingers. The guy stopped running and stood frozen in place for a moment, dazed. Cam nodded in approval as he dutifully hoisted Daniel over one of his shoulders and started running towards the exit. He made sure his hold on Luce was firm before he quickly followed behind him.

Joining the throng of terrified youths, Cam and the big guy found themselves carried along by the swift current of the river of people. Hysteric fans kept pushing and shoving. Cam had to help steady the big guy a few times when he stumbled and almost fell down. He also used his powers to help anyone who fell, keeping people out of their way long enough so they could get up. But there was only so much he could do, he could not save everyone. Feelings of anger and pity washed through him. _These people are innocent. All these senseless deaths, just because of a grudge between Lucifer and his former lover._

A second loud explosion made the ground shake beneath their feet. Cam managed to glance backwards as the stampede got worse, and saw a cloud of smoke and flames rising from the burning, collapsed stage. The crowd was out of control, and moving twice as fast as before. Even Cam was having trouble keeping up with the wild dash to the gates. He could not risk the big guy falling and Daniel getting hurt. Even though he was being really annoying tonight, Cam knew he had to save him. He ran in front of the big guy, whispering to himself. Soon, wherever Cam moved, an invisible force started pushing other people aside, just enough for him and the big guy to move forward unhindered.

Finally, they reached the gates. They were safe. The crowd was no longer trapped in the narrow tree-lined, winding path and far enough from the arena. People were calming down and slowing down, using their phones to call loved ones and quietly crying or talking to each other about what happened. They dispersed across the broad grassy area where they had bought overpriced food and Paramore merchandise just a few hours earlier. Cam and the big guy staggered to a wooden picnic table and carefully laid the couple down on the two benches. Shaking his head a few times, confused, the big guy looked at Cam and then his surroundings.

"Thanks for carrying my friend out of there, man. That was very nice of you." Cam shook his hand and smiled.

"Oh...no problem..." He smiled back at Cam before he trudged away, scratching his head.

Cam snapped his fingers and Daniel and Luce slowly opened their eyes and sat up.

"What happened...are you okay?" Luce asked Daniel.

"I'm okay." Daniel pulled her close and hugged her tightly.

Cam cleared his throat. "You guys need to get out of here. Now. Make sure she gets back to her dorm room safely."

Daniel nodded but looked at him skeptically. "I'm not sure what happened back there, but...thank you for saving us."

"Thank you, Cam. But next time, please don't just pick me up like that without asking me first!" Luce glared at him.

"Wait, you know him?" Daniel asked her.

"We have some classes together," Luce explained.

Cam ignored what Luce said. How was he supposed to rescue her if he had to waste time asking for her permission each time? She would just refuse to listen to him, anyway. He wondered when he should tell her the truth, or part of the truth, anyway. It would be so much easier to protect her if she knew she was in danger and he needed to keep an eye on her at all times.

"No need to thank me. I can't take all the credit. This other guy carried you out of there, Daniel. And you're not the only ones who need saving. I have to go back to see if I can help anyone else." Cam ran back towards the gates, where a steady stream of traumatized fans were still pouring out into the grassy area.

He heard Luce shouting at him. "Are you crazy? Don't go back, you'll get trampled to death! Cam...don't try to be a hero!"

The last thing she said almost made him laugh. He still thought of himself as the bad guy, not the hero. Glancing backwards one last time, he saw her worried face looking back at him as Daniel was pulling her in the opposite direction. He managed to give her a confident smile and a wink before he joined the mob again. But this time he felt like he was the only fish stupid enough to be swimming upstream. It was difficult to see and breathe, with so much smoke blowing towards them. A weak male voice was repeatedly crying "Help!" somewhere nearby. Cam weaved through the crowd, towards the voice, hoping it was not too late to save this person or others who had fallen. The piercing sirens of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances could be heard. Despite that, a sense of despair filled the air.

...

Luce sank back into one of the soft pillows behind her and snuggled more closely to Daniel's warm body. The cool night breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees outside the window. Cuddling with him in his dorm room was her favorite way to spend her weekends, or sometimes, even her weeknights. Unlike her, Daniel did not have to share his room with anyone and his room was a magnificent and serene space. Mostly everything in the room was a beautiful shade of blue, both light and dark shades. He did not have a lot of things cluttering up the small space, either. Just a bed facing the window, a small desk and chair right next to the bed (where his laptop, books, and backpack are), a shaggy rug on the floor, a small bookshelf, and a small LCD TV and a stand for it. His clothes and other things were in drawers under the bed.

The walls were white, but he had some blue wall washer accent lights that made the walls a lovely shade of sky blue. A strip of LED lights in neon blue also outlined his bed, making it glow mysteriously underneath. The first time she visited his room, her jaw dropped at how amazing and elegant it was. His furniture, bedding, TV...all were expensive brands. Nothing like the typical messy, cluttered dorm rooms filled with bargain furniture she'd seen. It looked more like a hotel room.

But it all made sense to her after he explained that his father was a somewhat famous fashion photographer that worked with celebrities often. Daniel was certainly not an arrogant, spoiled rich guy who wanted a luxurious bedroom. If that was true, he could have rented a fancy apartment nearby. It was his father who insisted on "helping" him decorate the room, wanting to make sure that it was at a certain level of comfort and style for his stubborn son who wanted to go to a regular college (not an Ivy League school) far from home. This dorm room was a simple imitation of his room back home in his parents' mansion in the Hollywood Hills. And Daniel already toned it down a lot already.

What made the ultra modern and minimalist room more cozy and less intimidating were all the lighthouse figurines he had. Big ones, small ones, some that actually lit up. Most of them were displayed on the top of his book shelf on the other side of the room. But some were on the floating shelf above his bed. Daniel had a big collection of lighthouses. He also collected lamps. Unique table lamps in all shapes and sizes, with bright to soft lighting, all shining with a pure, white light. They were placed in a neat, straight line on the white shelf on the wall. One light chain of delicate white flowers that Luce had bought for him partly hung down towards the bed. She reached up and fingered the plastic petals absentmindedly.

Daniel laughed at something going on in the TV show they were watching and Luce turned back towards the TV. She grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl in his lap.

"What happened?"

"Weren't you paying attention? Your mind has been wandering again?"

"I guess..."

Daniel frowned at her. "Hey. When we cuddle, I want both your body and your mind here with me, Luce." He put the popcorn bowl on the floor and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her onto his lap.

"I know, sorry..." She curled up on his lap, perfectly comfortable in the position and in her tanktop and pajama pants. Daniel was wearing an Emerald College t-shirt and track pants.

"Don't apologize, I'm just kidding." Daniel lightly kissed her on her bare shoulder. "After what happened yesterday...I'm sure you are still thinking about that. I can't believe someone would set off bombs at a concert. Thank goodness we got out of there before the second bomb exploded."

Luce nodded. "It almost feels like it was a nightmare, just a bad dream. But it wasn't. A lot of people were injured. Fifteen people died. They don't have any idea who did it and why."

Daniel sighed. "Yeah, I read the news about it. Have you seen Cam? How is he doing?"

"He's his usual moody, quiet self. We have a few classes together and his dorm room is near mine, but we don't talk much. I barely know him."

"Hmm..."

Luce hoped he wouldn't ask her about Cam anymore. She never told him about the tree branch incident or Cam bullying her. It was strange how in a short time, this was the second time Cam saved her life already. And apparently, he was still following her around. But he did save her and Daniel. Luce somehow knew he would not harm her. But explaining to Daniel why she trusted Cam, despite how weird he was acting, would not be easy. Reaching down, she retrieved the blue plastic bowl of popcorn and turned towards the television.

"Nevermind, I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's just watch TV."

"Okay." Daniel smiled at her before popping a few pieces of popcorn into his mouth.

A commercial for an action movie came on the TV. Luce liked it, until the explosions destroyed the White House. She screamed, threw the popcorn bowl in the air, and hid under the comforter.

"Shh...it's okay, it's okay. It's not real. I turned off the TV. You're safe here." Daniel hugged her tightly and stroked her hair tenderly.

Luce wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close, until his gentle breathing and steady heartbeat calmed her down. Being with Daniel always made her feel safe. Whenever life became chaotic and stormy, Daniel was her lighthouse. He would always watch over her and protect her from harm.

"Let's stay in your room for the rest of the week," she said.

"That is a brilliant idea," Daniel replied. He brushed most of the popcorn off the comforter onto the floor where the bowl had fallen. "You have popcorn in your hair, Luce."

Luce laughed and tried to get them out, but Daniel pulled her hands down.

"Let me do it..." he said softly.

He started to eat the popcorn pieces right off of her hair, making Luce blush. But then he dropped some onto her tight tanktop, a few of them resting on her cleavage.

"Daniel!" she protested, even though she was getting turned on.

Daniel gave her a sexy smile and swept back his tousled blonde hair. His grey eyes were dark and wanting...and in this light, more violet than grey. He was still the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen. And he wanted her. She wanted him back. Badly. Luce wondered how they managed to delay consummating their relationship all this time. They had been dating for almost six months now. There had been a lot of kissing and making out. A lot. But he did not try to go beyond that and Luce was too embarrassed to make the first move. Maybe taking things slow was not so bad, though.

"What are you thinking about?" Daniel murmured, between kisses. He gave her soft kisses on her neck, slowly making his way towards her cleavage.

"You...me..." Luce breathed. Her face and body was getting hot and she was breathing faster. Daniel was straddling her and she knew he was aroused. She could _feel _it.

He reached the two popcorn pieces at the edge of her tanktop and carefully licked each of them off her skin, into his mouth. Luce moaned softly.

Daniel straightened up so he could look her in the eyes. His hands cupped Luce's face as he whispered to her. "I want you, Lucinda Elizabeth Addison. I've never wanted anyone so much."

"I want you, Daniel James Irvine. I've wanted you from the moment I met you." Luce and Daniel gazed at each other. She could almost feel the air around them grow damp and hot from all the sexual tension, as if they were in a steamy shower together.

Daniel leaned in and kissed her passionately. The sensation of their lips moving against each other was intoxicating. Her lips parted and their their tongues twisted against each other deliciously. One of his hands held her firmly by the waist, while the other squeezed her bottom possessively. Luce wrapped her hands around his neck and started biting and licking his bottom lip. Daniel groaned sexily as his hands roamed all over her body. They kissed hard and long, as if they would never see each other again. Luce would never get tired of kissing him.

They had no idea that someone was watching them. Someone who wished they had drawn the curtains instead of shamelessly making out in front of an open window. True, they were on the second floor and it was close to midnight, but they still should have known better.

Cam shook his head in disgust and turned away. He was sitting on a branch of the tree just outside the window, but it was too dark for them to see him. After so many times seeing them kiss, he should have gotten used to it. And maybe he had, in some ways. But he still hated seeing them kissing and touching so intimately. The intense eye sex right before it happened was also annoying. All of it made him feel lonely. He could easily get a girlfriend if he wanted to. But he found himself randomly making out with girls at parties instead. Anything long-term was out of the question. In his experience, love was pain. Better to have flings than a serious relationship. But what Daniel and Luce had was so...true...complete? He couldn't find the right word to describe it. Sometimes it made him question his views on love.

Cam glanced back at the amorous couple and then looked away again. He sighed and decided to call it a night. Luce did not need him to protect her from Daniel's affections. Even though he had the strongest urge to pull the lucky bastard off of her and punch him hard in the face several times. Cam quietly laughed, imagining Daniel's perfect face full of ugly bruises.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Whew. I'm done. I've thought it over and I think from now on, I'll upload each scene once I'm done rather than wait until I have 2 done and then make it 1 chapter. Since I take quite a long time for each scene and they are often quite long. I noticed that I have more followers for this story and more people have favorited this or my other stories or followed me, too. THANK YOU! ^_^

Yes, I used part of the names of the actors playing Daniel and Luce's roles for the Fallen movie. Lol. And yeah, the part about Daniel having a famous photographer father is inspired by my reading about Ansel Elgort's life.

I used to think writing kissing/sexy scenes was fun. But it's actually hard to write stuff that sounds new/unique. A lot of the same phrases and words are used in these kind of scenes. Lol. If you have read a lot of sexy fanfiction/books (like me. lol.), you know what I mean. Haha.


	4. Chapter 4

Cam was neither outside nor inside. He stood in his dorm room, but it could be any place he wanted it to be. He sat down on the soft grass on the edge of the lonely, windswept cliff in Ireland. The warm sunshine and sparkling blue sea helped him calm down. He looked down at the white envelope with the broken gold seal clutched in his hands. Cam frowned and opened it again, removing the letter written in cursive and gold ink.

_So, we finally have a chance to play a game together. It's a deadly game and the stakes are high. It is not too late to back out, Cam. I will give you some time to reconsider. But if you do decide to continue, here are the rules:_

_1\. She is safe in any dorm room or any place private._

_2\. She is not safe in any public space._

_3\. From this day forward, you will receive clues before it happens. (Because I do enjoy playing this game with you and I do not want it to end too soon. Never assume that Lucifer cannot be generous, my friend.)_

The envelope was on his desk when he stepped in his room that night, a week ago. He thought the worse part of his evening was watching Luce and Daniel kissing in bed. He was wrong. Seeing Lucifer's letter in his room made him sick. It was only a message, but it felt like an intrusion, an unwelcome visit. His room was tainted by this vile letter. Cam had repeatedly tried to burn the letter and envelope, but they would just reappear moments later.

Staring at the sea impassively, he ripped up the letter and flung the pieces into the air. Seconds later, a new letter materialized in the envelope. Cam could feel doubt and fear creeping into his mind. But for Luce's sake, he would not fail.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Hey, everyone! 147 views now! Wow. Thank you again for reading my story. I have good news and bad news. The good news is I am going to try to post up some new scenes (a new "chapter") every Wednesday, from now on. The bad news is that each chapter will only have a few very short scenes, like this one. I will try to limit myself to 250-300 words for each scene. Though this one is 319 words. I guess it's ok if I don't go over the limit too much.

The reason why I'm doing this is I just don't have a ton of time to write like I did in the past anymore. I was going to give up writing this fanfiction, but then it made me sad to abandon my story and never see certain scenes (I have so many notes for scenes!) I thought of come to life, in a way. Also, I don't want to disappoint the people that are following my story and looking forward to how it turns out. I also wonder how it will turn out! Lol. I'm not sure yet...

So...this is my solution. To only focus on important scenes and try to write more simply, without worrying too much about all the details and wording. This way, I can write faster and hopefully still keep the story interesting. I think you will still be able to understand the story ok, though i might have to...leave out a lot of things. I'm not sure yet. But I figure it's better to have bits and pieces of the story written down than giving up on it entirely.

I am also not sure if I will ever go back and try to make the scenes longer and tie it all together better. I probably won't have the time or motivation to do it. Lol.

So...I hope that I can capture the essence of the story in a series of very short scenes. Lol. I think it will force me to really get to the point and not waste time. I hope everyone does not mind too much... If you do decide to stop reading, I totally understand. Thank you for liking my story and reading this far.

For those of you that decide to keep reading and seeing what I can come up with, THANK YOU! I really do love to write and I have a lot of nice ideas for this story that I want to share with you all. I do sometimes have writer's block or too much stuff going on to write. But I think I can at least do one short scene a week. I really want to be able to finish writing this story. Making myself write 1-3 very short scenes a week might be a good way to make sure I don't give up on it. *fingers crossed*

BY THE WAY, DID YOU SEE THE COVER FOR UNBROKEN? Lauren Kate's book about Cam that is coming this November. I love it. They released the prologue too, but I didn't get a chance to read it yet. Excited about this book, though I don't like Lilith and the idea of Cam having to save her. Lol. But I guess I don't know enough about her to really hate her.


	5. Chapter 5

Monday mornings were usually so uneventful. But not today. Luce's jaw dropped when she saw Cam kissing a girl through the gap in the books lining the bookshelf of the campus library. She was about to retreat, but then he deepened the kiss. Her face and other parts of her body were suddenly very hot. It was a little strange to see this side of him for the first time, though she knew he had a reputation for being promiscuous.

Luce was only familiar with the silent, brooding Cam who often ignored her even though they had a lot of classes together and lived in the same dorm. She wasn't even sure if he was still following her. Maybe she didn't want to know. It would be too hard for her to confront him again about it. Ignoring a problem and hoping it went away on its own was one of her bad habits. And Cam was...a very mysterious, gorgeous problem. It was insane that she was still drawn to him when she already had a boyfriend and he was such a jerk to her before. But she figured it was just a stupid, harmless crush.

_Oh no. _Luce sneezed loudly, startling them. The cute blonde girl mumbled something to Cam and ran off as he glared at Luce from the other side of the bookshelf.

He stalked towards her, his expression a mixture of amusement and frustration. "Enjoyed the show? How long have you been there?"

"Hey, I was just trying to find a book. I wasn't snooping, unlike some people..."

"Right. And I'm sure the reason you're blushing has nothing to do with seeing me kiss a girl." He smirked and took a few steps towards her.

Luce moved away but soon found herself trapped between the bookshelf and Cam's body. He braced one arm against the bookshelf, above her head. He leaned down close to her face, his gaze intense, his voice low.

"Have you and Daniel kissed in the library? Is he a good kisser? Not as good as me. If you don't believe me, let me show you."

Her mind was offended by his brazenness, but her body was completely infatuated and drawn to him. This guy, who used to bully her relentlessly, was about to kiss her and she was letting him. It was surreal.

His lips were less than an inch away when she finally snapped out of it. "No! You're...you're such a jerk! Just because you're good-looking, you think you can seduce any girl? I'm not like those other girls!"

Cam abruptly pulled back and gave her a tight, cold smile. "Relax, I was just messing with you. You're not my type. I'm not interested in flat-chested girls."

Luce's eyebrows shot up and her fists shook with anger. She had always been self-conscious about that part of her body. "Really? From what I heard about you, I thought any girl with a pulse is your type. At least until you get tired of her after a day or two and move on to the next one. Have you ever even had one serious relationship?"

Fury flickered in his eyes and he had a dark, pained expression on his face. "You know nothing about me. Let's keep it that way."

Luce watched him walk away, shocked by how haunted his beautiful emerald eyes looked. Who could have hurt Cam so badly and turned him into this bitter, loveless loner?

* * *

**Kate's Notes**:

Sorry I'm late posting this up! Just around 2 hours into Thursday, at least. Lol. I'll really try hard to get at least 2 scenes done by next Wednesday. Yes, I went way over my word limit this time. 578 words. Lol. It's fine...sometimes scenes will get a bit long, but if the words keep coming, I don't want to stop the flow. It wouldn't feel right. But keeping in mind that I want it to be 300 words or less if possible helps me keep things short and not drag out a scene too long with stuff that doesn't matter that much. Until next week (Wed.), then! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**2:05 a.m. April 6.**

A pale pink flower petal floated down and landed on the screen of the phone. Cam brushed it away so he could continue his text conversation with Roland. His room was an empty, foggy park with a few lovely cherry blossom trees. The soft light of approaching dawn and damp coolness in the air was comforting.

_Cam: So, you still haven't been able to find them? _

_Roland: Not yet. Sorry. I'll let you know as soon as I do. Have you heard from Lucifer again?_

_Cam: No. So far, only one damn letter. I don't trust him though, so the rules and clues that he will give me are quite useless. _

_Roland: Hmm. He might be serious about helping you by giving you the rules and clues. I believe he wants to torture both Luce and you with this game. So the longer it lasts, the more that sadistic bastard will enjoy it. _

_Cam: That might be true. But trusting the devil still sounds like a monumentally bad idea to me. And I hate to admit you're right...but I'm still attracted to her. _

_Roland: Whoa... Are you still in love with her?_

_Cam: Hell, no! It's just...you know about our complicated past...and she is always easily charmed by me. But this is just lust. And I won't act on it. _

_Roland: Be honest with me, Cam. Can you really do this? Or do I need to switch places with you and get your charming and horny ass away from Luce?_

Cam scowled at the screen, indignant at Roland's accusation that he had no self-control when it came to Luce.

_Cam: I will not touch her. You keep searching for them. Even if I wanted to , I wouldn't know where to look. You have always been closer to them. _

_Roland: Alright. Keep it in your pants, Cam. Seriously. Don't do anything that you and Luce will regret._

_Cam: I already said I won't touch her. I'm a man of my word. That is all. Goodnight._

He turned off his phone and pushed it into his jeans pocket. Cam sighed and closed his eyes. The memory of him almost kissing her this morning rushed into his mind. He should not have teased her like that. It was supposed to be a punishment for her, not for him. But when he realized she wanted him to kiss her, knowing that she wanted him...made it so hard for him to back away from her lips. And he knew it was stupid, but when he sensed that she was there, watching him kiss that girl, he kissed her more passionately to impress Luce. Seeing how flushed she was from watching him had turned him on. A lot. He shook his head and repeated out loud the same things he kept thinking to himself that today.

"She is Daniel's girlfriend, Cam. You are only here to protect her. You cannot like her. You cannot want her. No matter how beautiful or sweet she is. Draw the line. Do not cross it. There's no turning back after you kiss her. Never get that close to her again."

The chilly mist surrounding him was gone all of a sudden. Cam opened his eyes and saw Luce sleeping in her bed. Damn his mind, for bringing him here. Or more accurately, bringing her to him. It was dark in her dorm room. Aubrey was in the top bunk and Luce in the bottom one. Only a small lighthouse nightlight illuminated her face enough so that he could admire her lovely features. Her long, wavy black hair and her sensual, slightly parted lips got most of his attention. Cam was envious of the sleeping humans. Angels only slept when they were completely physically or emotionally exhausted. He wanted to dream. Maybe he would see her in his dreams. But he felt that he would probably be plagued by nightmares instead, memories from his past that he would rather forget.

Luce woke up with a gasp, sitting up straight in her bed, making Cam jump. He cursed but was relieved when he remembered she could not see him. He wasn't even really there. It was like he was inside a copy of a live video feed. She was breathing hard and seemed really upset. Cam was curious what her nightmare was about but decided to not invade her privacy any further. He blinked once and returned to the misty park and gentle rain of petals.

**2:21 a.m. April 6.**

_No, no, no, no, no. Stop freaking out. It was just a dream. It's not real. _Luce took several deep breaths as she threw her blanket aside and fanned her face with a book. Her heart was beating insanely fast and her body felt like it was on fire. _What a peculiar dream! Cam and her, at a ball sometime during the 19th century..._

They were dancing in a majestic ballroom with glittering, cascading chandeliers, surrounded by many other elegantly dressed guests. He was incredibly handsome in his formal wear and his black coat matched her black gown . She smiled at him but he looked at her with guarded eyes and his mouth was pressed into a hard line. In the last two months, they only saw each other a few times at a few balls. When they did get a chance to speak to each other, he was very formal and curt with her. She did often feel his eyes lingering on her from across the room, but when their eyes met his face remained impassive. Near the end of the dance, he abruptly pulled her away from the dance floor, towards the hall. She tried to remove his hand but he just held her elbow tighter and soon they found themselves in the study.

"Cameron, please let go of me! Why did you drag me in here?" she demanded after he closed and locked the door.

"You know why, Lucinda." His eyes darkened as he moved closer to her, trapping her against the wall.

She sighed. "I thought we could both move past this and still be friends. I suppose that was silly of me to think that was possible. Please don't be this way. I don't want to have to avoid you from now on."

He seemed to realize how upset she was, so he backed away a bit and changed the subject. "Where is Daniel? Why is he not here with you this evening?"

"He had some business he had to take care of out of town. He has been quite busy lately."

It was Cameron's turn to sigh as he gently tilted her chin up so that he could see her face when she replied to his next question. "Let me guess. Sometimes he is very caring and romantic. But then there are times that he becomes cold, distant, and too _busy_ all the time."

"How did you know?" Her eyes widened and she tried to hold back the tears that welled up in her eyes. "I miss him, but it seems like he is staying away from me on purpose." She was starting to loathe the words "busy" and "work" because they kept him away from her.

Cameron laughed bitterly and turned away from her, his eyes drawn to the fireplace. "I know him far too well. He has always been like this. Toying with your emotions. Unsure of whether he should come or go, not sure of what he wants. But I know what I want."

Lucinda wondered how he knew Daniel so well, since they did not seem to know each other at all. She had never even seen them speak to each other the few times they had been at the same ball. But maybe they had worked together.

"I want you, Lucinda." His heated gaze burned into her as he was suddenly too close again.

"You know I love Daniel. And we are engaged. I'm sorry, but what we had is over." She tried to be stoic in her response but she felt flushed.

"But I met you first. We were together for half a year before you met him and then abandoned me. Daniel has only courted you for a few months. In that time, he has already made you cry many times, am I right? I admit that we did have arguments and I might have made you cry a few times. But did I ever ignore you for days or make you question my love for you? Never!"

"Cameron, please stop." Lucinda sobbed. Because she knew what he said was true.

Why did she choose Daniel, when it was Cameron who made her happier? But with Daniel, when they were happy, she was never more in love and was sure they were soulmates. But when he was brooding and aloof, the pain was unbearable.

"I'm sorry. Don't cry. You know what seeing you cry does to me, Lucinda." He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it and dabbed at her eyes and continued to cry.

Cameron drew her into his arms and stroked her back. "Hush now...there's nothing wrong with you. He is the problem, not you. You are an exceptionally beautiful and wonderful young woman. You deserve much better than him, Lucinda. If he makes you sad more than happy...choose me instead." Lucinda stilled in his arms, too stunned to continue crying. "You don't have to give me an answer immediately. Please think about it." He hugged her tighter and it was heartwarming but also heartbreaking. She already knew what her answer was.

"Cameron, I can't leave Daniel. Despite the way he is...I love him too much. I'm sorry..."

He slowly pulled away so he could look at her, keeping his hands on her shoulders. "But...do you still think about me? Because I can't stop thinking about you. Lucinda, do you still have feelings for me? Please tell me the truth."

"I...I have not forgotten you. There are times when I miss you. You were my first love, after all. But it doesn't matter, because I have Daniel now. I can't think about you in that way anymore." Seeing his face ashen with grief made her cry again.

"Why not?" Cameron asked softly.

"I am soon to be a married woman. I can't be in love with another man." She stared at him in disbelief.

"Yes, you can. If the only way I can have you is by keeping our relationship a secret...I don't mind. And I promise Daniel won't find out, I'll make sure of it. Give me another chance to show you how much I love you, Lucinda. Maybe eventually you'll see that I am the one you belong with." His emerald eyes soften, his expression sincere, as he stroked her cheek with his knuckles.

"Cameron...you're serious? How could you even suggest that?" She weakly pushed his hand away. With her heart beating too fast and her breathing so shallow, she was afraid she might faint. "I...I don't know if I could really..." She staggered away from him and leaned on an armchair near the fireplace, contemplating his tempting proposal. Maybe it was not such a preposterous idea. At times she did question if Daniel was her one true love. And whenever he made her sad, she would wish Cameron was by her side. "Why do I still have trouble saying no to you...even when you ask this of me..."

"Because you know you want to say yes," he breathed. Cameron came up behind her and held her by the waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. She was tense at first, but slowly relaxed and leaned back against his chest. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her hair.

"I love you, Lucinda. Don't leave me. Promise me you won't leave me," he murmured.

She turned around so she could face him as she whispered the words. "I love you, Cameron." But she couldn't make that promise. Disappointment flashed in his eyes for a moment, but then he nodded and smiled, relieved that at least she was willing to try this.

"I'll take that as a yes." He hugged her, squeezing so hard she let out a breathless giggle which he quickly silenced with his kiss. Just a gentle touch from his lips, yet it made her knees weak.

"Are we making a big mistake? This feels wrong," she whispered as he lovingly caressed her cheek.

"No, Lucinda. Kissing you, loving you has never felt wrong to me," he insisted, cupping her face in his hands and dipping his head to kiss her again. It was a long, sensual kiss. She let out a soft moan after he pulled back and he gazed at her, his eyes intense and seductive.

"Oh Cameron...we can't do this..." she breathlessly managed to say, though she knew she was about to give in completely.

"Darling, we have already started," he said in a husky voice and gave her one of his gorgeous, mischievous smiles that she had not seen in a long time. Cameron gently rubbed her full bottom lip with his thumb and she couldn't help but smile back at her handsome lover.

Again, he bent his head to capture her lips...her heart. His lips moved urgently against hers and she kissed him back with just as much passion. He swiftly pulled her closer, so that his hard body was pressed against all of her softness, her warmth. Cameron groaned at the contact and deepened the kiss, eager to taste her again. And that was how Lucinda and Cameron's forbidden love began.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Real quick this time cuz i don't have much time... See you next Wednesday! =)

-yes, i decided to add the time and date to make it easier for you to figure out when it is and it's less confusing. i'm happy about that! should have done it sooner.

-yeah, the word count limit doesn't mean much of anything anymore. lol. f*ck the word count limit. i'll just write as much as i want. lmao. it's so hard to write meaningful scenes that are 300 words or less, anyway.

-yes! 2 scenes as promised, on time, this time. well, it's 1 long scene, i guess. but i count it as 2. i stayed up very very late to write the 2nd scene, btw. got like 5 hours of sleep. lol... worth it, though!

-2nd scene longer than i expected! i hope it's not boring. it feels a bit boring because i kept re-reading and re-writing it so much. also cuz it's in the past and i worry about wording it so it sounds like how they talked then.

-i had the idea for the 2nd scene from early on! so glad i finally got it on paper (i mean, typed up). different than what i imagined (was supposed to be much shorter and less talking/discussing). but i wanted it clear that it wasn't just lust, that cam loved her.

-i'm worried i'll get negative reviews. but everyone makes mistakes... luce and cam (even daniel) do have flaws. that is why the title is We Are Broken. i probably will avoid reading reviews for a while, though. just in case you all get mad at me. lol.

-but you all know i have a thing for forbidden love, so... lol...

-and luce has cheated at least twice that we know of, in the books. so...i don't think it's that much of a stretch to know she has cheated on daniel with cam. i wish we knew more about her past lives with cam, btw. they were always so vague about it. but we know he was her friend for some of her past lives, and also he and her and daniel were in a love triangle for some of them.

i'm still not sure what he would do with her in the Fallen book if she had chosen him. hand her over to lucifer? they make her an angel again and make her side with lucifer? what? i don't get it. lol. don't think he would hurt her... but i still think he really loves her, from how he treated her in the later books. but i guess not. in the Unforgiven prologue, it says Lilith is the only woman he ever loved. ugh. he must have cared a lot for her, still.

-and for those of you that are Daniel/Luce fans (you know who you are!), the next scene will be a Daniel/Luce scene! yay. and probably Aubrey shows up for the 1st real time! I named her after Aubrey Plaza, who plays my favorite sitcom character ever, the sarcastic/dark April Ludgate. Lol. My Aubrey character will be very similar to April, I think. haha.

-here are some books i'm reading, btw. lol... Ugly Love (Colleen Hoover), Hotter Than Ever (Elle Kennedy), The Real Thing (Cassie Mae), The Satin Sash (Red Garnier) I guess i like most of them. but in Ugly Love...she has this very repetitive way of writing. omg. it's driving me crazy. i'm actually having a hard time getting myself to keep reading. and i have managed to finish 50 Shades of Grey (i know, i know. lol. i just needed to know what the hype was all about). lollllll.


	7. Chapter 7

**12:37pm, April 12**

Someone was watching her. She knew who it was. It was always Cam. But Luce resisted the urge to look up from her fries. At least she was not alone. Aubrey and Daniel were joining her for lunch today at their college's food court. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him sitting a few tables away. He had finished his meal, but he was in no hurry to leave. It seemed like he was playing a game on his phone, but sometimes he would glance at her. Luce liked it when he looked at her, though she wished he wouldn't.

She also wished she would stop dreaming about him. That romantic, scandalous dream of them agreeing to have an affair came to her every night for a whole week now. Was it just because she saw him kissing that girl? Or maybe it was because she had been reading a lot of historical romances lately. Why couldn't she dream of Daniel, instead? She never had any very interesting dreams about Daniel, and none of them recurring. Letting out a deep breath, Luce forced herself to stop thinking about the dream and focus on Daniel and Aubrey's conversation. Unlike her, they had eaten all their food and were chatting away while drinking the rest of their sodas.

The fries were too salty so she gave up on them after eating a few more pieces and picked up her cup of Pepsi. They were talking about how Aubrey's art teacher looked a lot like Jack Black and laughing about how some of her classmates wanted selfies with him. Daniel had taken his class before, too. Both of them were art majors. Sometimes she thought she should join them, since she also had an interest in art and liked to draw. But Luce also loved reading and felt like she might like to major in English more. So, for now she was an undecided major.

They were introverts, while Luce was an extrovert. They got along very well. If Aubrey wasn't her best friend and an aromantic asexual, she would worry about how close they were. Aubrey would joke about wanting to date a hot guy sometimes, but Luce knew there was a close to zero chance of that happening. Actually, it was refreshing that Aubrey was immune to Daniel's devastatingly good looks and did not blush or have trouble forming sentences when talking to him, like most girls did. Maybe that's why Daniel liked her. She never made him feel like he was a cute guy from a boy band who was talking to a fangirl who was infatuated with him.

During a pause in the conversation, Aubrey took out her compact mirror from her backpack and started reapplying her black eyeliner. The dark lines drew attention to her large, warm chestnut eyes. Her hair on the other hand, was a darker shade of chestnut. Luce was envious of her simple short bob haircut that she herself could never pull off. But it suited Aubrey's subtle beauty and oval face.

"So, when are you guys going to do it?" Aubrey casually asked.

Daniel and Luce immediately blushed and looked at each other, then quickly elsewhere.

"Aubrey!" Luce gasped.

"What? I meant when are you planning to have a birthday party for your eighteenth birthday," she replied. "It's coming up soon."

"Oh..." Daniel breathed a sigh of relief and Luce laughed nervously.

Aubrey looked up from her mirror and noticed how embarrassed they were. "Did you think...you thought I was asking when you two would have sex? Geez. You sexuals...such dirty minds. I could care less." She tucked her short hair back behind one ear and wagged a finger at them.

Luce ignored her comment and changed the subject back to her birthday. "Ask Daniel, he insisted on planning everything since I had no idea what to do." He loved planning things out ahead of time, while she liked to be more spontaneous. He was pessimistic, while she was an optimist. Luce guessed it was true, opposites did attract. But Daniel could be quite bossy, and that took some time to get used to.

"Well, you know how I feel about parties..." Daniel and Aubrey both cringed. "But it's Luce's 18th birthday and she deserves a big party." He grinned at Luce and squeezed her knee gently. "I was able to get my parents to agree to let me use their beach house. We'll do it on Saturday so a lot of people can come, though I know your birthday is this Friday."

"Cool," Aubrey said.

"Oh, Daniel! That sounds amazing! Thank you!" Luce kissed him on the cheek and he smiled at her.

"So, you girls start inviting all your friends and I'll do the same. Aubrey, since you work on that taco food truck, I was wondering if you could ask your boss and the other gourmet food truck people who do catering about their prices. See if you could get any good deals for us."

"No problem. I know which food trucks she likes best."

"I can't wait to celebrate with you guys! Thank you, thank you!" Luce hugged Daniel hard and then reached across the table to give Aubrey an equally hard squeeze. She was so touched that they were doing all this for her. Though she would have been happy with anything he came up with, but a big party at a fancy beach house with gourmet food truck food sounded awesome.

"Too bad it's still too chilly at the beach to go swimming, though. I still haven't seen you in a bikini," Daniel winked and gave Luce a sexy smile.

Luce blushed right on cue. Aubrey rolled her eyes.

Daniel leaned close to Luce and whispered in her ear. "I want to celebrate with you, just the two of us, on your actual birthday. I'm not going to tell you what we're going to do, though. You'll just have to wait and see."

"Okay..." Luce nodded. What was he up to? Whatever he had planned, she knew she would love it. This was the first time she got to celebrate her birthday with Daniel. It would be unforgettable no matter what they did.

She gave him a quick, soft kiss on the lips. Daniel looked at her intently, his grey eyes drifting down to her lips as he ran his fingers through the soft, black waves of her hair.

Aubrey cleared her throat. "Excuse me, I'm still here."

"Sorry." The two of them said it at the same time and laughed. Aubrey rolled her eyes again.

"Luce, do you mind if Nick comes?" Aubrey asked.

"Which Nick?" she nervously said.

"My step brother Nick. I know things were kind of awkward between you two last year but..." Aubrey glanced at Daniel's puzzled face and Luce's worried face and knew she shouldn't say too much. "Well, he asked how you were doing and I mentioned your birthday is coming up. Nick wants to come to your birthday party. He said to ask you if it's okay if he brings his boyfriend, too."

"Of course I don't mind if he comes," she managed to say cheerfully. "And yeah, he can bring whoever he wants." _He has a boyfriend. Of course he does. He's too good-looking and irresistable to stay single for long. _

"So...why were things awkward between you two?" Daniel asked.

Aubrey said nothing. After a long pause, Luce finally opened her mouth. "It was nothing. I had a crush on him despite knowing that he's gay. I finally told him I liked him last year. And he rejected me, just like I knew he would. That was it."

"I see..." Daniel quietly said, patting her back. "Sorry, I was just curious..."

"It's fine," Luce said. "Umm...Aubrey, why don't you tell Daniel about him. He's got a pretty cool job."

**1:07pm, April 12**

Aubrey started to explain how Nick used to be a model but eventually opened up a karate school for kids because he was so passionate about martial arts since he was a teenager. Luce nodded and pretended to listen, but she was staring out the window, thinking about the first guy she ever fell in love with. At least she thought it was love. She failed to tell Daniel just how long she had a crush on him. She liked him for four long years, ever since she was thirteen years old. He never loved her back. At least not in the way she wanted him to.

Since she was eight years old, Aubrey and Luce were friends and neighbors. They both lived in the same neighborhood in Connecticut, went to the same elementary school, liked the same cartoon, and loved chocolate chip ice cream. That was all they needed to have in common to be best friends back then. Their ethnicities were different, though. Luce's mom was Italian and her father was American. Aubrey's father was Japanese and her mother was Spanish. She looked more Asian than Spanish, but did have a slightly tanned skin color. Her last name was Takeda and Nick's was Baquero. He was her step-brother and he was five years older than her. Nick was born in Spain but only lived there a few years before his mother and father got a divorce and she moved to the United States.

Being an only child, Luce thought of Nick as a big brother at first. He was such a cool guy. Nick spoiled Aubrey and Luce, often giving them piggyback rides and cookies from his secret stash. Luce went over to Aubrey's house almost everyday to hang out after school and they would all watch cartoons or play video games together. But he was still a boy after all, and did pull pranks on them or was mean and ignored them sometimes. Still, he was their hero. Nick protected them from monsters under the bed, bugs, bullies, and more. He even took the fall for them sometimes, saying it was he that broke their mom's favorite mug or he who spilled grape juice on the rug.

These naive girls adored him and wanted to marry him when they grew up. Of course, they were too young then, to know what being married meant. By the time they were thirteen and he was eighteen, only Luce still wanted to marry Nick. She knew a lot more about marriage and what husbands and wives did. And she knew about sex. While Aubrey and Luce entered that awkward phase of puberty where they were neither children nor women, Nick became a handsome young man. He got taller and the karate classes he took made him more muscular. Actually, he had always been in good shape because he started taking karate since he was thirteen. But Luce did not start noticing his body until she hit puberty. Despite being more busy with school, modeling, and training for martial arts tournaments, Nick still made sure he made time to hang out with Aubrey and Luce, just like old times. He was way too nice and sweet to them. Luce couldn't help but fall for him.

It wasn't until Luce was sixteen that Nick came out. He had won several martial arts world titles and was starting to appear in various clothing ads in fashion magazines. His sexy shirtless picture was on all the Abercrombie &amp; Fitch bags. Nick's career was probably at its peak, but he said he could not be truly happy if he kept pretending to be someone he wasn't. Nick was gay. Luce was devastated. But she couldn't get over him. If Daniel was the most handsome guy she ever met and Cam was in second place, then...it would be be a tie between Cam and Nick. But he wasn't just a pretty face, he was the sweetest, most caring guy, yet also extremely manly and sexy. Last summer, she finally confessed to him. It was a big mistake.

The last time she saw him was when he helped Aubrey and her move in to their dorm, August of last year. She forced herself to not call or text him or stalk his Facebook page and Instagram account. He never called or texted her either. It has been nine months and she has definitely gotten over him. But she knew it would be hard to see him again, especially with a boyfriend. Her pride prevented her from telling Aubrey that she didn't want him to come to the party. She couldn't let Aubrey, Nick, or most importantly, Daniel, think that she still liked him. No matter how awkward it might be, Luce refused to let this get her down. This was her birthday week and she was finally turning eighteen. Oddly, she had an inexplicable feeling that she and Daniel have been waiting for this day for a very long time.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Sorry for the delay! :/ At least I got 2 scenes written, kinda. It was a bit boring because I had to squeeze in a lot of facts about them and backstory for Nick and Luce, but...hopefully I didn't bore you guys to death with all these details. But they are necessary info, so...couldn't be helped.

Camp NaNo (July) is starting soon and I'm already in full camp mode! I even bought some Camp NaNo stuff. Haha. My cabin mates (same genre, all fanfiction writers) seem nice and just chatty enough. :)

Oh, this time I want to kinda reply to your reviews for the last chapter here. Lol.

**HeartthrobbingFanticyLover**: Is it a dream or is it a memory? Hmm. You probably already know. **Acia Granger**: Thank you! I love writing this fic though it can be frustrating and a major time sucker but it's also very satisfying to be able to see my ideas come to life on the page and know there are people out there who enjoy reading it. I'm trying hard to make Cam, well, Cam-like and cool and sarcastic and conflicted and all. **Katherine - Child of Dreams**: I know. Lol. I did apologize in advance! But I'm sure you're just gonna hate me more as the story goes on. I'll try to be fair to Daniel and give him more scenes so that it's more balanced, though. Hmm.

-Before i forget, it was so fun writing the text conversation between cam and roland last time! LOL. i love how roland gives it to him straight, just very straightforward and gets to the point. he'll totally kick his ass if cam does something wrong.

-LUCE'S FINALLY TURNING 18 SOON! omg. i knew this would be an important part of the story. i hope you all will like what i can come up with... :) i already know most of the stuff that i want to happen... it will certainly be unforgettable...

-I had to change certain details about Luce's past in order to create my new Nick character, so now my fic has officially become non-canon. argh. but it kinda had to be done. at least i didn't stray into non-canon territory until now. sigh...

-the main reason i added this Nick character is because i have a huge crush on Nick Bateman right now. LOL. i knew about him cuz he will be in a movie adaptation of the book Ugly Love. he's just really hot, so i imagined up this character for him. lollll. but it's also cuz i don't want everyone to be white in this fic. but the more i thought about it, the more i things i think i can do with this character. hopefully you guys will like him. (Search for his pics or check out his instagram, you'll see why he's super popular on instagram. haha.) btw, most of Nick's career stuff that i talked about is totally true and based on his real life! he was on the abercrombie bag, won martial arts tournament awards, had a karate school for kids. xD

-i was thinking about making aubrey bi, but then i decided on asexual. i wanted more diversity in my fic. :) and since there will be a lot of sexual tension between certain characters and a lot of mushy, romantic stuff, it's nice to have one character who isn't into that stuff at all. lol.

-i imagine aubrey looking kinda like kiko mizuhara, btw. but more tan and less pouty. haha. she just has this very cool, everything-bores-me kind of look. lol.

-i am now imagining daniel to look like drew van acker because he's just so handsome. xD and Matthew Daddario (will be in the Shadowhunters tv show next year) as Cam, because he's cute and just so...Cam! he sometimes looks like a younger joey from Friends, though. haha. I think luce will still look like Kaya S., but sometimes i think of her as Kat McNamara (also in Shadowhunters).

-I liked the mortal instruments movie from 2013. didn't read the books, though. recently found out the book is being adapted into a tv series! called Shadowhunters. i'm so excited about it! =) the cast looks quite good, too. and they've been posting lots of BTS pics and stuff. it's awesome to see so many updates, unlike with the Fallen movie. not even an official poster or teaser yet. ugh. they better have an amazing trailer to show us after making us wait for so long! somehow, i feel i'll be disappointed, though.

_**Until next Wednesday, then! ^_^ (Or whenever I finish the next scene. Might be a little more busy than usual soon. Hmm...)**_


	8. Chapter 8

**3:55pm, April 14**

The small classroom was full of tension and sounds of twenty-nine students's scribbling, pens hastily spilling words on to the pop quiz handout. Cam leaned back in his seat and lazily twirled his yellow No. 2 pencil around his fingers. He used a pencil just to annoy the professor, Miss Gibbs. She wore thick glasses for older people and had trouble reading things written in pencil. Well, that was too bad. The same two words she had said to him when she paired him up with Luce for the class project and he said he wanted a different partner. "Too bad. Everyone was randomly paired up. No switching partners."

Needless to say, Cam knew European history better than anyone else in HIST 101: European Civilization, 1648-1945. He lived it. Even if he did not experience certain events himself, he read about it. Being a loner and immortal means you read a lot to pass the time. In fact, he was sure he could ace the Asian, American, and African history classes, too. Newspapers and books kept him company before television and movies came along. But he still preferred to read. Books had been his friends long before television ever was.

Cam pulled up the hood of his grey zip hoodie over his head and glanced at Luce. She was sitting in the small chair desk to the left of him. She looked pale and distressed, gripping her pen too tightly as she stared at the paper. Muttering something to herself, she hurriedly wrote down her answer to the 5th question. There were ten questions in all and she was running out of time. Class ended in five minutes.

Looking towards the front of the class, he noticed that Miss Gibbs was busy grading papers at her desk. Cam and Luce were sitting in the last row. He often sat in the back of all his classes so he could read books on his phone undisturbed. But today he was going to be breaking the rules with Luce. Now, to get her attention. Cam stared at her hard and soon enough, she glanced at him.

Sliding his paper discreetly in her direction on his desk, he mouthed the words "Need some help?" Luce's mouth dropped open and she quickly looked around the classroom. No one was aware of what they were doing. She turned back towards Cam and bit her lip, hesitating. He frowned at her and pointed at the clock on the wall. She finally nodded and carefully moved to the right in her seat to look over at his paper. He smiled to himself, the idea of corrupting her even in this small way giving him a twisted sense of pleasure. As Luce copied the answers from his paper, he read the answers to himself silently to help her further, in case she had trouble reading his writing. She finished just as their professor told everyone that their time was up and to pass all of their papers forward.

Everyone did as they were told and Miss Gibbs collected them. The students started to gather their laptops and backpacks. They shuffled out of the room, groaning or complaining about the quiz under their breaths. Luce was frozen in her seat, guilt and regret etched on her face. Cam reached into his pocket and pulled out a simple green flyer for some school event a student had given him earlier. He turned it over to the blank side and wrote "Cheater. You pretend to be innocent, but I can see right through you. Embrace your dark side, Luce. I'll be waiting for you on the other side. -Cam" He crumpled it up and nonchalantly dropped it on her desk as he headed towards the door.

Tapping the pack lightly in one hand, Cam pulled out one of the cigarettes that slid out. He put it in his mouth and lit it up with his lighter. Taking a long drag and blowing out the smoke, he leaned against a tree, waiting for her to come out. There was no way she was leaving him alone after he helped her cheat on the quiz. Even if he hadn't written that taunting note. Maybe he shouldn't have given her that note. But it was an impulse. A sick impulse of wanting to drag her into the darkness with him. Or maybe he wanted her to pull him back into the light. He wasn't sure what he wanted anymore.

A few minutes passed before he saw her walking towards him. Even when she tried to seem nerdy, she was still so beautiful. She had her hair up in a loose bun and had her thick-framed, more round than rectangle glasses on. Her straight, feathered bangs fell across her forehead, above her warm hazel eyes. A loose, grey knit top and a long, pale pink skirt obscured her figure. The pleated skirt flowed in a mesmerizing, majestic way as the breeze pulled and played with the airy fabric. From the waist down, she reminded him of a princess from the past. Luce had actually been a princess in some of her lifetimes. But every time, the prince she was waiting for was Daniel. And Cam was the evil witch who never quite succeeded at keeping them apart. Except they never got their happy ending...until now. There was still a witch lurking in the shadows, determined to tear them apart, though. A much more powerful and malevolent monster that was after her. It forced Cam to play the role of the reluctant hero, the knight protecting the princess that he secretly wanted for himself.

Cam couldn't resist giving her a sardonic smile and an exagerrated, mocking bow as she came within a few feet of him. "My lady."

Luce rolled her eyes and covered her nose and mouth. "Do you have to smoke now? We need to talk."

"Relax, they're just herbal cigarettes. I'm trying to quit. They suck, by the way."

True, angels did not have to worry about the health affects of cigarettes. But now that Cam was spending a lot of time with Luce, Roland convinced him to quit so that she didn't have to breathe in the secondhand smoke all the time. He didn't give a damn about the other humans affected by his smoking. But for Luce, he would try to quit. If only she knew all the sacrifices he was making for her.

"Oh..." Luce sat down on the black metal bench, in the shade of the tree Cam was resting against. She placed her backpack on the ground and regarded him uneasily. "Thanks for helping me with the pop quiz. I don't even mind the insulting, cryptic note you gave me afterwards...that much. I have been having trouble sleeping and I haven't been keeping up with the readings, so..."

"Don't worry about it. I'm your partner, after all. Besides, I like knowing that you owe me." A trail of smoke followed him as he stalked towards her, standing behind the bench so he didn't have to see how upset she got when he taunted her. Leaning his hip against the back of the bench and facing away from her, he waited for her to react to his words.

"Why do you do this all the time, Cam? You do something nice for me, then you ridicule me. You keep your distance, yet you're continually nearby, watching me. Sometimes I think you hate me, but sometimes I think you..."

Cam's jaw clenched. He remained silent and concentrated on smoking his lame, vanilla flavored cigarette.

"Can't we try to be friends, Cam?" she asked so quietly, he could barely make out the words.

"No, that's not a good idea, Luce." Besides, he wanted to be more than friends.

Luce sighed. "I...I've been having dreams about you," she whispered.

"What?" He was so startled, he dropped the cigarette. Cam quickly crushed it under his sneaker, putting it out. He fought the urge to sit down on the bench next to her. "What kind of dreams? Don't you mean nightmares?" He nervously clutched the bench with both hands.

"No, they were not nightmares, even though something...bad does happen. It's a recurring dream. But it felt like a memory more than a dream. Kind of like a deja vu, you know? Like we have met in a past life. Do you believe in reincarnation, Cam?"

_Damn it, what did she dream about? She could not be more vague about it. At least it didn't sound like it was an awful memory. But maybe that's why she had insomnia. _Cam was very curious about the dream but he couldn't let her know that. Fortunately he had an answer prepared for this occasion. He knew she would ask about past lives eventually.

"I do. Because I'm psychic. I remember a lot of my past lives," he calmly said.

"Oh my God, Cam... I knew there was something about you... You give off eerie, paranormal vibes... So, we have crossed paths in our past lives?"

"Yes. But I don't want to get into all that. I'm telling you this only to warn you. I can see into the past, and I can also see into the future. You're in danger, Luce. You have a dark aura and the darkness wants to consume you. An enemy from your past wants you dead. The falling tree branch, the bombs at the concert, that's just the beginning."

Luce immediately stood up and made her way around the bench to face him. "You...you're kidding, right? Why would someone want to kill me? I haven't wronged anybody."

Cam sighed. "I wish I was, but it's true. And it's not what you did in this lifetime. It's what you did a very long time ago."

"What did I do?" She asked in a shaky voice, a confused and worried expression on her face.

"It's a long story, Luce. And I can't tell you without revealing certain details that would only frighten you. Trust me, you don't want to know."

He could tell she was frustrated and scared, but she was trying to be strong. Luce took a few deep, calming breaths and then spoke again. "So, let me get this straight. You know I'm in danger,and you follow me around so that you can save me? Do you know when I'll be attacked? But why are you willing to act as my bodyguard when you clearly despise me? Most importantly, why didn't you tell me earlier so I could tell the police and _they_ could protect me? And _who_ is trying to kill me?"

Cam groaned and crossed his arms. "In the order that you asked: Yes. Yes, sort of. I have visions and they give me clues, but it's possible for me to interpret them incorrectly. No, I don't exactly hate you. My feelings for you are...complicated. And an old friend of yours asked me to look after you, it's not like I want to be here. But I promised I would protect you, and I'm not one to shy away from a challenge or danger, so I'm staying here as long as I'm still needed. No, the police can't protect you from him. He knows a lot of people in positions of power, including in the police force. You can't depend on them. Besides, you have no real proof that someone is trying to kill you. No, I can't tell you who he is, not without telling you the whole story."

"Easy for you to say, you know everything and what little you do tell me only makes me more confused. I don't like being left in the dark, especially when I know someone is after me." Luce glowered at him.

Cam glared back at her. "You have no idea, of what true darkness is...the dark places I have been. The darkness invades your body, your mind, and suffocates you, devours you. It tries to steal your soul and turn you into a monster." Luce's terrified expression made him realize he was getting off-topic. "You're just going to have to trust me, Lucinda. Please don't make this difficult for me and ask me too many questions. I can only tell you that much."

Luce blinked at him, still doubtful. But slowly her frown turned into a smile, surprising Cam. "You called me Lucinda in the dream, too..."

Cam tried to ignore how her sweet, wistful smile warmed his heart and soul. It must have been a romantic dream. "It's just an old habit."

A long stretch of silence followed. Finally, Luce let out a long sigh and softly said, "Thank you for telling me what you could, I think I need to go back to my room and let this all sink in."

"Try not to worry too much, I will keep you safe. Roland is trying to find the others. They will be able to help me protect you."

"I just have a few more questions. Roland is my friend from a past life?"

"Yes."

"Do you guys work for the FBI or the military? Are you highly trained spies or something?

"I can't tell you, but we are in the 'or something' category," he said, giving her an enigmatic smile.

"Hmm...as long as you guys are the good guys. I trust you, Cam. You have already saved my life twice. Thank you for protecting me."

"I'm glad you still trust me even though I was such a jerk to you when we first met, Luce. I'm sorry about that. And you don't need to thank me. This is what I do, besides we used to be..." She waited for him to finish his sentence, but his expression had already become dark and guarded again. "Come on, I'll walk you back to your dorm room. I was going to go back to my room, anyway."

Luce picked up her backpack and they walked towards the path to their dormitory. It was a lovely, straight cement path surrounded by tall beech trees. He had always been drawn to all things emerald, the color of his eyes and his soul. Cam liked this green passage. It reminded him of being in a forest, being closer to nature and far away from humans. A place where he could be himself and let his wings out. Fortunately, they had the path to themselves today.

"Now that I know all this, can you just walk next to me from now on instead of creepily following me around?" Luce asked.

"I don't enjoy stalking you, Luce. But I have no choice. I don't know exactly when you'll be attacked. And even if you know more about the situation now, it doesn't change how I feel about you...that I don't want to be your friend. I will stay close to you, but we will only talk when I need to tell you something important."

"Alright..." She nodded a bit sadly. "I won't tell Daniel, by the way, about me being in danger. I don't want him to worry and there's not much that he can do to help me. At least I'll hide it from him as long as possible."

"Good idea," Cam replied. He was sure Daniel would not believe what he was saying and just cause more trouble for him. No doubt, he would try to get a restraining order to prevent Cam from shadowing her.

He took out another cigarette and lit it up. Luce watched him as he smoked. Maybe she found it cool or sexy, because when she realized he noticed, she quickly turned away, embarrassed. He mentally cursed. _Please don't fall for me Luce, I can't do this again. You already have Daniel and this is the last lifetime you will have with him. No more do-overs. And I promised myself and Roland I would never fall in love with you again._

"Cam, were we enemies in any of our past lives? Is that why you dislike me?" she blurted out.

"No, Luce. Quite the opposite of what you're thinking." He looked up at the white, wispy clouds drifting by in the azure sky and wished he could join them. Spreading his wings, he would drift in the wind instead of having to answer Luce's questions. He had to be careful not to reveal too much.

"We were friends?"

"Yes...and more than friends sometimes," he said in a low voice. Their eyes locked and they stopped in the middle of the empty path. The canopy of leaves above them rustled in the breeze, as if they were whispering about the boy and girl below. Luce's face was pink again and he gave her an endearing half-smile.

"I always liked making you blush. It's a shame that I am not the only one that you blush for," he said gently.

Luce didn't know what to say, only giving him a bittersweet smile.

He casually took the cigarette between his lips and offered it to her. "Here, you seemed like you wanted to try it. It's vanilla. I don't care for vanilla but that's all they had left at the shop. Maybe you would like it, though."

The cigarette lingered near her mouth, in his hand, for a moment before she finally nodded and parted her lips to take it. Luce carefully mimicked the way she had seen him and other smokers inhale and then blow out the smoke. She still ended up coughing a little.

"Real smooth," Cam teased.

"It's not bad, actually," she said, taking another puff and trying to hold it cooly in her fingers.

He motioned to her to give it back to him and then took a long drag. "I hate these damn things. I need real cigarettes."

"Cigarettes will kill you."

"So? The best things in life are those that can kill you, eventually. Obsessions with money, fame, drugs, sex...love. But the highs, the pleasure, makes it worth it. Besides, I'm a masochist. I am addicted to things that hurt me." He gave her a cold stare before reaching into his jeans pocket and taking out another cigarette.

"Think of this as an early birthday present. Smoke it or throw it away. I don't care." Cam moved closer to Luce, tucking her hair back and firmly pushed the cigarette behind her ear to hold it in place.

Luce swallowed hard and stared at him, thrown by the tender gesture that followed his insensitive remark. Before she could say anything, he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and walked away at a brisk pace, letting her know that the conversation was over. He was aware of her catching up to him just as he got lost in his own thoughts.

Cam had overheard them talking about her birthday party a few days ago in the cafeteria. Well, not exactly, he could read lips. He couldn't believe it. Luce was finally going to turn eighteen after what seemed like an eternity. Unfortunately, his joy was shortlived. Lucifer was the very reason why she had died at seventeen years old, over and over for seven thousand years. Surely, he would try to end her life before midnight this Friday, when she would officially be eighteen. He had to be more vigilant these days. Luce, Daniel, Cam, and all their other angel friends had waited too long for this day. Cam was not about to let Lucifer take this, take Luce away from them again... not this time.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

20 days since the last update! Sorry for the long wait, everyone. Just couldn't write until recently. I really hope you like this long chapter. The cheating in class scene was another one that I thought of from the start (kinda), so I was really glad to finally write it.

I will try to get back to posting a new chapter each Wednesday, this month. I think I can do it. Even if there are delays, it won't be almost a whole month. Lol. Because I'm trying to write more to make it to 10K words for Camp Nano, this month. Btw, it's hot these days because it's summertime and that sometimes prevents me from writing and I hate it. Btw, I love the Maroon 5 song, This Summer's Gonna Hurt Like a Motherf*cker. Haha.

Oh, Camp Nano started July 1 and lasts the whole month. I'm Cryptic Kate there, if any of you are also there and want to say hi! Of course, I'm writing this fanfiction for camp. I will be posting my progress at my instagram sometimes, if anyone is interested in knowing. Lol. My username is katekatekate242015.

**Before I continue with my notes, I want to tell you some big Fallen movie news, in case you don't know! (THIS IS KINDA LENGTHY AND RANT-ISH, SO SKIP THIS PART IF YOU WANT. LOL.) **I just heard TODAY that the movie's release date has been pushed back to early next year. Sigh. A specific date was never revealed (only said it would be released in autumn), by the way. A lot of fans are sick of them teasing us with supposed new info, but then giving us vague answers about the movie and repeating things they said in the past. And they were supposed to start promoting the movie at Comic-Con, but that didn't happen, either. The cast have all seen the movie at different times, it seems, and of course said it was great. There has been 1 public screening that I know of, at a theater near me, just recently, at the end of June, and I had no idea! Sigh. Lauren Kate was there!

I'm starting to worry about all the secrecy over this movie. Is it that bad? Do they not have enough money to do a decent promotion? Why do we still not even have a teaser or poster? What's worse is that I just found out yesterday that it has a $40 million budget, which is not a lot, and the exact same amount that The Host had, and it totally bombed (the story was too rushed and missing many important parts, acting was bad except for Ian (Jake Abel. love him!) and cave looked so fake!) and I had such high hopes for it. The Host also was released early in the year. Well, even The Mortal Instruments movie failed and it had a ton of promotion and a bigger budget ($60 million) and the movie was quite good! So, honestly...I'm keeping my expectations low for the Fallen movie and them making the fandom so frustrated with all this waiting certainly is making it easy for me to do that. I wish it could just be as good as TMI, really. That would be awesome. Please, please don't suck and be totally lame, like The Host.

There is SOME good news, though. Promotion for the movie supposedly will officially start next week (in 6 days?) at a film festival in Italy. They are supposed to finally show some footage from the movie. Or was it behind-the-scenes footage? I forget. FOLLOW this twitter, fallen_series, for Fallen movie news and anything Fallen related, like the Unforgiven book about Cam coming out this November.

**Ok, now for my Chapter 8 notes...**

-Btw, about chapter 7...nick bateman is not gay in real life (he might have a girlfriend/fiancee, but i'm not sure)! lol. i just wanted a gay male character in my fic.

-Sorry, i know it's kind of stupid of luce to believe him already and not just go to the police for help, but he has saved her twice and what he says kinda makes sense, and he seems trustworthy, so... lol... it was really hard for me to write this! i hope it doesn't seem totally ridiculous to you. sigh.

-I found out that herbal cigarettes are still harmful after i decided Cam uses them. lol. damn it. they can even be worse than regular cigarettes, having more tar and nicotine? what... but i really wanted to write this scene. i'm sorry, i'll try to figure out something. maybe cam can use electronic cigarettes, though i hear those things are not that safe either. ugh...

-taylor swift's hairstyle and dress in the Safe and Sound music video! i want Luce to look like that. and that whole music video, the theme just goes so well with my story! i love it.

-i am currently obsessed with maxi (long) skirts right now! i'm not sure why. maybe because of watching Friends reruns and they look cute in long dresses. haha. i bought one that is blue and nice and flowy, but it's too shiny. like, disney princess dress for kids shiny or bad halloween costume shiny. sigh. it's still pretty but i can't wear it in public except maybe on halloween. lol. i'll try looking for a better one that is not too expensive but might be tough to find...

**-I want to share the pics i use for my story! i often look up pics to help me imagine locations, clothes, their rooms, etc. I feel like it might be nice for you all to see them, too. you can see how i see the locations and other stuff, since i suck at descriptions. haha. i'll share the link in my profile soon, probably. :) maybe tomorrow. i'll also include it in the notes of the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**8:01am, April 15**

A few gentle knocks on her door stirred her awake. When had she fallen asleep? Luce couldn't remember, but she probably only got a few hours of sleep. After Cam told her someone was trying to kill her, all she could do was think about her predicament and wonder why her, why now? It was so unfair. Why should she suffer for something her past self had done? She wasn't even the same person anymore. Suddenly getting enough sleep was the least of her worries. Her birthday was tomorrow, yet her mind was filled with thoughts about death and mortality.

"Luce, are you awake? Can I come in?" Daniel asked.

"Daniel?" Luce wondered why he was here so early.

She quickly got off her bed, smoothing out her tangled hair as she opened the door for him. Her roommate's bed was empty. No doubt, Aubrey was dozing off in her 7:30am sociology class.

"Good morning! Happy day-before-your-birthday!" he said, smiling and giving her a small brown paper box tied with a black ribbon, a neat little bow on top. "It's your favorite, chocolate chunk coconut oatmeal cookies."

"Aw, thank you. Daniel, you shouldn't have. This bakery is so far away."

"I ordered them yesterday and paid extra for them to be delivered by today. I know you love them and you deserve a treat." He ruffled her hair playfully before noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "Especially after you stayed up all night killing zombies? You look..."

Luce laughed and set down the box on her desk. "I know. I had some major cramming to do... Biology test today."

"Oh. You poor thing." Daniel squeezed her shoulder and rubbed his thumb against it soothingly. "Well, don't you have a class that starts at 8:30? My morning class was cancelled, so I thought I would hang out with you in your first class today."

"Yes, I'd better get ready! And I'd love that, Daniel. We rarely get to spend time together in class. I just need about fifteen minutes in the bathroom, then we can go." Since she was a freshman and Daniel was a junior, it was hard for them to find classes they could both take. It became even more difficult after he joined their college soccer team. Training sessions ate up so much of his time.

Luce quickly grabbed her bag of toiletries, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Be right back!"

Daniel nodded and grinned as she rushed out the door, trying to forget her chilling conversation with Cam.

**8:56am, April 15**

It was hopeless. Luce could not pretend that everything was okay. Having Daniel next to her did help her feel safer. But she couldn't help looking around the lecture hall nervously, wondering if she could be attacked right here. As her philosophy professor lectured about Descartes and Daniel worked on an essay on his laptop, she scanned the room, searching for anything suspicious. Even though nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she couldn't stop herself from panicking and looking over and over. Luce also flinched at the slightest noises. Sure enough, Cam was here, sitting a few rows away. Each time her eyes briefly met his, he stared back at her, his emerald eyes dark with some unfathomable emotion.

"Luce, what's wrong? Is there a reason why you're so jumpy today? And you must have looked around the lecture hall over ten times now." Daniel looked at her intently, a worried expression on his face.

"I'm okay. Too much caffeine, I guess." She took another sip from her cup of coffee. "I was just looking for a friend. She...uh...owes me money." Damn, she needed to work on her lying skills.

"Okay..." Daniel didn't seem convinced. "But no more coffee, for now."

Luce nodded sheepishly and he smiled and took the cup from her hand and put it on the floor, near his feet. Daniel focused on his laptop screen and started typing again. She took a few deep breaths and tried to regain her composure. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, startling her. Luce took it out and read the text.

_Unknown number: Calm. Down. If you keep freaking out, he will know everything by the end of the day. _

_Luce: Cam? How did you get my number?_

She glanced at Cam, a few rows down, and saw that he was indeed texting on his phone.

_Cam: I got it off your phone the time I interrupted your text conversation with Aubrey. What I wanted was your phone number, not to read your texts. _

_Luce: Well, you read them anyway, didn't you? And how am I supposed to keep calm, under the circumstances? Any normal person would freak out!_

_Cam: I don't expect you to be completely stoic, but you need to take it down a few notches. Daniel cannot know about this. I already told you that I have a way of knowing when these incidents will happen. I will let you know when you need to be more cautious and ready for it. You need to trust me._

_Luce: Okay, I'm sorry. I'll try. I know... I do trust you._

She knew his eyes were on her, so she looked up from her phone and their eyes locked. His eyes softened and he gave her a disarming smile. Somehow, Luce was able keep herself from blushing. Her phone buzzed again.

_Cam: I'm always nearby if you need me, Luce. I won't let anything bad happen to you. _

_Luce: Thank you, Cam. _

_Cam: "You know that I'll protect you. From all of the obscene." _

_Luce: "You know that I will save you. From all of the unclean." I love that song. Blurry, by Puddle of Mudd, right?_

_Cam: Yes. You have good taste, Luce. I like this song, too. "You could be my someone. You could be my scene."_

_Luce: "Cause I am lost without you. I cannot live at all."_

_Cam: "This pain you gave to me. Can you take it all away?"_

It felt like Cam was not talking about the song anymore. Feelings of guilt and longing washed over her. What did she do to him in their past life to hurt him so badly? Was it just a bad breakup or something much worse?

"Texting Aubrey?" Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

"Yeah," Luce replied, turning off her phone's screen and pushing it back into her pocket. "I better get back to taking notes, though." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Cam was still watching her, his expression unreadable.

"Give me a kiss, first? I can't seem to concentrate on my essay when you're right next to me," Daniel whispered.

"Daniel..." Luce blushed and tried to think of an excuse to avoid kissing Daniel in front of Cam.

But Daniel was already leaning towards her and she found herself closing her eyes and hoping Cam had turned away. As soon as their lips touched, she forgot about everything else. The kiss quickly went from being tender and chaste to something else entirely. Luckily they were sitting at the back of the room and there were only a few other students that could see them doing this. His sexy kisses, his sexy tongue, was turning her on. No one should be this turned on in class. Finally, Daniel pulled away, Luce whimpering in protest. He quietly laughed and cupped her face in his hands and kissed her deeply a few more times, almost making her moan.

"God, I'm just so crazy about you. I can't stop thinking about you... I just want you all the time," Daniel breathlessly said, resting his forehead against hers.

"I feel the same way," Luce whispered.

He pulled back and gazed at her. "You're so adorable even when you're all fidgety from too much coffee. Though I do hope you've settled down by tonight."

"Tonight? We're doing something tonight?" Luce asked.

Daniel gave her a mysterious smile and moved closer to whisper in her ear. "I want to be with you at midnight...be the first person to wish you happy birthday. I'm taking you to the beach house tonight. Just you and me."

For a second, she thought he said "I'm _taking you _at the beach house tonight" and the thought of it made her body hot all over. Her face must be tomato red by now.

"There's no one else I'd rather be with at midnight on my birthday, Daniel. I can't wait." Luce smiled sweetly at him.

"No, Luce. I'm the one who can't wait," Daniel winked and gave her a roguish smile.

It was all she could do to tear her eyes away from him and pay attention to what her professor was saying. But she knew she had to, or else they would end up making out again. She was aware that she had a big, stupid smile on her face, but she couldn't stop smiling. Were they finally going to take their relationship to the next level tonight? The sexiest, hottest level that she had been fantasizing about forever? A romantic night in a beach house, just the two of them. Wait, not just the two of them. Cam followed her everywhere. Oh no. She and Daniel were all over each other and Cam was right there! Did he see everything? She reluctantly looked towards him. Cam had turned towards the front of the room, seeming to be absorbed in the lecture. _Thank goodness._

Her phone vibrated. It wasn't a text from Cam, he hadn't touched his phone. She pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. _Oh my God... _All the warmth that Daniel's kisses gave her faded away and she was sharply pulled back to the cold, harsh reality of real life.

_Nick: happy birthday, Luce! i know it's not until tomorrow. but i'm pretty busy friday and was afraid i'll forget to tell you. see you on saturday, birthday girl..._

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

This stupid hot weather has really made it hard to find a time where it's cool enough for me to get in the right mood to write my fanfiction. Sigh. I doubt I'll be able to make it to 10K for Camp Nano, but it's okay. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to reach it. 8 days since the last update. Not bad, right? Though I couldn't post on Wednesday...

By the way, if you read my notes last time, you'll know that I am obsessed with long skirts right now. Lol. I ordered the "nude chiffon maxi skirt" from Chicwish (lots of cute clothes but from China, quality might be questionable. Similar to Yesstyle website, but maybe a bit better) and also, one in black. If you google "nude chiffon maxi skirt chicwish", it'll show up right away.

Oh, I am going to upload pics when writing this story to my livejournal page at kateng1031 from now on! Actors that I imagine as my characters, locations that I like and might use/used, clothes that I like and might use/used, things I might use in the story, etc. Note that some of them are gifs! Some gifs are already "moving" but some are frozen until you click on them. They don't allow links here... But **here's how you get there. kateng1031 . livejournal . com slash profile. Then go in Photos. Then go in Fanfic Pics album! :) I hope you like seeing the pictures and can better imagine what the locations, clothes, things, etc. look like!**

**-**Sorry, I'm aware that I am addicted to ellipses and I use it way too much... Lol. I'm trying to pay attention to that and not overuse it!

-Isn't Daniel the sweetest boyfriend ever? cookies and going to class with her and all... i am still having trouble finding daniel's "voice". I know Cam and Luce very well and feel like I can write their lines easily. but Daniel...i'm not sure. i will try to do a better job of it! sorry... i don't want to make daniel just a nicer version of cam. lol...

-I like that song and suddenly i thought of using it. i dunno if it was weird that he suddenly mentions it. oh well, i love how the theme of that angsty song is something cam could totally relate to!

-what is daniel hinting at? is tonight the night? ;)

-and lol, nick is the 1st to wish her happy bday instead of daniel. though it's not her bday yet, so it shouldn't count, right? damn that guy, ruining the moment...


	10. Chapter 10

**11:09pm, April 15**

The half moon hanging high in the night sky captured Cam's attention for a short while. He tried but failed to relax on top of the roof of the beach house. _No, a beach villa. This place is absurdly extravagant_, Cam thought. He'd seen better, but of course Luce was very impressed. The sound of the waves unceasingly crashing against the beach below the cliff did not help calm him down either. Luce wasn't the only one on edge today. Pulling the envelope out of his pocket, he took out the vile letter and read it again for maybe the hundredth time today. Supposedly, Luce would be safe as long as she stayed inside. But why hadn't he sent any clue? Was Cam wrong? Did Lucifer not have a trap planned for his victim's birthday after all?

The cold, strong wind tousled Cam's dark chocolate brown hair. He was glad he got a haircut recently, for no reason in particular. If not, he would have trouble seeing right now. Taking a bite of a cookie he stole from Luce earlier in the day, he thought about texting Roland to see how his search was going. He had walked her back to her room in the evening and she was packing for her overnight trip when he noticed the box that Daniel had given her that morning. Cam couldn't resist taking a cookie and hoping it would annoy Luce later when she found out. It was delicious, but mostly because of how satisfying it was to steal something that Daniel had given Luce.

Growing restless, Cam used an Announcer to reappear on the ground, behind one of the four brick columns of the patio. Daniel already showed her the backyard, so he felt like he could hide here. Daniel had soccer practice at night today and it took around one hour to drive here, so they didn't arrive until nine. Of course, Cam followed them here on his motorcycle. They only finished eating their takeout dinner recently and he was giving her a tour of the house. At least Cam did appreciate how the modern, ultra-chic place had a lot of large windows. It made it easy for him to keep an eye on Luce. They were walking around on the second floor.

Anxiously meddling with the fireplace by using his powers, Cam constantly put out the flames and then lit it again, as if it was a lighter. He almost hoped something bad would happen at midnight so that he didn't have to spend another whole day worrying about when Luce would be attacked. _Let's just get this over with_, Cam thought. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out. Finally, a text from Roland. He hadn't replied to Cam's texts for almost two weeks.

_Roland: Sorry for going AWOL. I had to spend some time investigating in the Amazon rainforest. Apparently, there's a secret bar for angels and demons there. I got lost several times before I was able to find it. Some friends of theirs told me they heard a rumor that Arriane and Annabelle got into some trouble and are being punished in Heaven. _

_Cam: Yeah, I know that place. Had a lot of good times, there... Damn it. They won't be of any help at all. What could they have done that was so bad? Arriane, I could see doing something reckless. But not Annabelle. _

_Roland: Apparently, they got into an argument with a few demons at a nightclub in a small town in Iceland. The fight moved into the parking lot, then into the air. They used their wings in the presence of humans, Cam. Luckily it was near closing time and most people already left. The few people that saw them had no credibility because they were too high or drunk. One guy did take some pictures of the fight and posted them online, but they were too blurry to prove anything. _

_Cam: Strange. It doesn't sound like something they would do. _

_Roland: I know. I don't get it. Because of their little stunt, they have to guard the gates of Heaven for a whole year. _

_Cam: That seems a bit excessive. But I suppose that's just how things work up there. I'm sure it's not as bad as guarding the gates of Hell, though. That was a rather unpleasant assignment. _

_Roland: Understatement of the year. Don't remind me,I'm still trying to forget. At least we'll never have to do that again. Our days of taking orders from the devil are long gone._

_Cam: Despite that, he is still making my life miserable. I feel like I'm playing a game of chess with Satan and I have lost all my pieces, except for the King. I can keep going, but it's impossible to win. _

_Roland: But in that case, there's a chance of the game ending in a draw. _

_Cam: That's never going to happen, and you know it. The worse part of all this is I know he's enjoying tormenting Luce and me. And I can almost feel him pulling on the strings, manipulating me into doing what he wants. I just know he's going to try to trick me with his clues. _

_Roland: You're not his puppet, Cam. You are not under his control. Don't let him think he has all this power over you. We were able to defeat him last time. We can do it again. _

_Cam: But that was mostly because a lot of us worked together and God intervened in the end. I don't know if I can do this alone._

_Roland: You're right...The same day that I first told you to go protect Luce, I did ask an angel to try to get a message to God for me, to tell Him that we need help. But I don't know if He got it. I asked her to try several more times but it seems like He has not been at the Throne for a long time now. No one knows when He will return._

_Cam: Well, it's been months! Looks like we're on our own this time. I don't know how long I can keep Luce safe. I try not to think about it or worry too much, but sometimes it just seems hopeless. When he gets tired of the game, we are going to lose her again, but this time forever..._

_Roland: Don't lose hope, maybe God will get our message or return soon. And I'll come back. You are not alone. I just want to ask a few more friends, see if they could help us out. Though I doubt anyone would want to be involved in something like this. Who is foolish enough to challenge the devil himself, except for us?_

_Cam: Curse our loyalty and righteousness. But this is Luce we're talking about. We just have to save her. Thank you, Roland. I don't think I can do this without you._

_Roland: Don't worry, Cam. A knight is coming to help your king fight this battle. _

**11:55pm, April 15**

Hugging the soft throw pillow, Luce watched as Daniel poured some champagne into two wine glasses. She couldn't help staring at her surroundings again. They were in the huge living room. _This beach house...beach mansion is amazing_, she thought. Never had she been to a place so luxurious. It had a very sleek, modern look. Mostly everything was white, from the couch, to the tables, to the walls. The black wood flooring perfectly contrasted all of the white. This beautiful glass house must have wonderful views of the sea during the day from most of the rooms of its three floors, even the bathrooms and the indoors pool. But right now all she could see was darkness surrounding them on all sides, which made her a little uneasy. She wondered where Cam was. _Should I let him inside later, while Daniel was sleeping?_ That seemed a bit too risky, and she wasn't sure if she remembered the alarm code correctly, the numbers Daniel pressed on the control panel to disarm the alarm system after they entered the house. But it was quite cold outside. And as her bodyguard, he should be near her at all times.

Luce felt someone watching her and glanced towards the dark patio. She saw him for only a moment before he disappeared behind one of the brick columns again. It made her uncomfortable to know that Cam could see everything they were doing, in most of the rooms. But he kind of needed to know what was going on inside. Still, she made a mental note to remind herself to not do anything with Daniel she wouldn't want Cam to see. Or at least ask him to draw the curtains before they did anything intimate.

Daniel checked his watch as he came back from the kitchen with a lighter, a sparkler, and a gourmet cupcake with pink frosting and a slice of strawberry on top. He stuck the sparkler in the cupcake, as one would do with a candle, and smiled at her.

"This is just your midnight cupcake. You'll get your real birthday cake tomorrow."

"It's lovely, Daniel." She smiled back at him. "And this beach house is incredible. It's too nice, though. Are you sure your parents are okay with us having a party here? There will be a lot of people coming and I'm worried about them breaking or taking things."

Daniel sat down beside her. "Yes, I'm sure. It's okay. I will put away the more expensive figurines, paintings, et cetera. And I'll lock all of the rooms, except for the bathrooms on the first floor. You know what? My family spent a lot of summer vacations here when I was younger. I wonder if we ever met on the beach when we were kids?"

"We might have met, Daniel! I did go to this beach sometimes with my family." Luce placed the pillow on his lap and laid down, resting her head on the pillow. "But why do you guys have a beach house in Connecticut, not in California, where you lived?"

Daniel looked down at her and stroked her hair. "We do have another one in California. But my father grew up in Connecticut. He went to college in Los Angeles and ended up living and working there. But he still likes to go back here sometimes and reminisce. He also sometimes visits some family members and old friends that he has in this area. This beach house is the reason why I decided to go to college here, by the way. I had a lot of happy memories with my family here, and I prefer living on the East Coast. I like the people here and how there's actually four seasons. But most of all, I like the slower-paced way of life."

A loud beeping alarm went off, frightening Luce. She bolted up from the couch.

"Sorry, it's just my watch alarm. One minute left until midnight! I thought you might want to count down to it." Daniel said.

"Yes, I do!" Luce said.

They both stared at his digital watch and started counting down when there were fifteen seconds left. "Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!"

"Happy birthday, Luce!" Daniel hugged Luce tightly.

"I'm eighteen!" Luce said. "I'm finally eighteen..."

For some reason, she felt like crying. It felt like this was a very important, life-changing moment for her and she didn't understand why. It was just another birthday. Maybe it was because it was her first time celebrating a birthday with Daniel. Tears welled in her eyes. She was shocked to see Cam standing very close to the glass patio door. He gave her a warm, sincere smile and mouthed "Happy birthday" to her. She nodded and smiled back at him. Cam quickly slipped back behind one of the columns as Daniel released her.

Daniel wiped away one of the tears that rolled down her cheek with his thumb. "Silly...why are you crying?"

"I don't know...I'm just so happy, Daniel."

"Me too, Luce. But don't cry. Here, make a wish." He lit the sparkler on the cupcake and handed it to her.

Luce took the cupcake and they both admired the bright bursts of light moving down the stick. She closed her eyes just before it burned out and made her wish.

"What did you wish for?" Daniel asked, removing the sparkler and walking to the kitchen to soak it in the sink before throwing it away.

"I can't tell you, Daniel," Luce replied. "It won't come true if you say it out loud." Daniel came back and looked at her curiously but decided to let it go and picked up the two champagne glasses. _I'm sorry, Daniel. I really can't tell you. At least, not yet. If my wish comes true, I won't have to tell you at all_, she thought.

He gave her one glass and held his own up. "Happy birthday, Luce! Cheers!"

"Cheers! Thank you, Daniel." They happily clinked their glasses together.

Luce took a sip of the sweet champagne and set the glass on the glass coffee table. She picked up the cupcake and took a bite. "Mm...this cupcake is delicious, Daniel. Try it." She broke off a piece and popped it in his mouth.

"Mm..." He grabbed the cupcake from her hand and jokingly hid it behind his back. "It's mine now."

Luce laughed. "Give it back! I'll give you half."

"I'm just kidding, eat it all. I bought it for you." Daniel grinned and returned the cupcake.

Luce ate the rest of the cupcake as Daniel pushed a few buttons on a remote which simultaneously dimmed all the lights and drew all the white, semi-transparent curtains shut. She swallowed nervously as the atmosphere unexpectedly became much more romantic and private.

Surprisingly, Daniel also seemed nervous, which made her even more anxious. He slowly pulled a small, white box out of his pocket and placed it in her hands.

"This is for you, Luce," he quietly said. "I have been thinking about what to give you for a whole month, now. I finally got this. I really hope you like it."

"Daniel... Thank you," she softly said.

Luce opened the lid and saw that it was a silver necklace. She lifted it in her fingers and three charms hung off the end. A silver "L", "D", and a small circle pendant, also silver, engraved with the number eighteen.

She felt like crying again. "I love it, Daniel! Put it on for me?"

Daniel smiled and leaned close to her, putting it around her neck. He paused near her face after closing the clasp of the necklace and their eyes locked. He reached for her hands and held them as he kissed her gently on her cheek. Drawing back so he could face her properly, Daniel paused again before he spoke.

"I love you, Luce." His grey eyes focused on hers, waiting for her reaction.

They had never said "I love you" to each other before. Though she knew she loved him from early on in their relationship, she was waiting for him to say it first. She tried to stay as calm as he was, but In her mind, she was screaming with joy.

"I love you too, Daniel," she whispered.

Daniel gave her a dazzling smile as he pulled her into his arms. "I've wanted to tell you for the longest time, but I didn't want you to scare you away."

"Me too, Daniel! I've wanted to tell you since one week after we started going out."

"I've wanted to tell you since a few days after we met," Daniel whispered.

"Daniel..." Luce didn't know what to say in response. He was so sweet. She had no idea he had fallen for her so soon.

He pulled away just enough to look at her lovingly before he leaned in to give her a few tender, long kisses. Just as the kisses were getting more sensual, Daniel drew back. But he kept his face close to hers so that his warm breath mingled with hers and their lips brushed against each other as he spoke. "Luce...will you let me show you how much I love you? Words are not enough. I need to touch you, taste you, be inside you... I want to make love to you."

"Daniel, I want to, but..." Her heart was racing and her body was on fire. _Daniel. Wants. To. Have. Sex. With. Me._ She found herself blissfully repeating it over and over in her mind.

Daniel immediately moved away from her, afraid that he had upset her. "I'm sorry. It's okay if you're not ready. I was just-"

"No, no, Daniel. It's not that I'm not ready," she interrupted. "I am _so_ ready to consummate our relationship. Really, I am. But...I just got my period this afternoon."

"You're kidding! Today, of all days?" Daniel sighed and ran both hands through his blond hair. "I guess I should have asked you about when you might have your period ahead of time, but that would just be too weird and I didn't want to be presumptuous."

"I know. Bad timing." Luce also let out a sigh. "Yes, that is a weird thing to ask."

They laughed and Daniel exhaled and sank back against the sofa. "It's okay. I can wait another week. Or longer, if you want, Luce."

"I just need one week, Daniel," she reassured.

"Oh, thank God!" he grabbed her, kissing her hard. "It feels like I've been waiting forever."

Luce blushed even more. "You could have said something sooner. You didn't have to wait until my birthday. Wait...were you waiting on purpose? For me to not be a minor anymore?"

Daniel's eyes widened. "I never really thought of that, actually. I was just waiting for the right moment. But now you've made me feel guilty for lusting after an underage girl." He looked down awkwardly.

"Don't be silly, you are only two years older than me and I'm not too young for sex. Even if you were six or seven years older, I wouldn't mind. Age doesn't matter when you're in love, right?"

"You're right, of course." He gave her a mischievous smile and held her by the waist, pulling her closer. "What should we do now? I didn't have anything else special planned for the night. I was hoping that we would only be doing one thing for the rest of the night, over and over..." His eyes raked over Luce's body.

"I guess we'll just have to make out over and over instead," Luce said, winking at him.

"Mm... sounds good to me." Daniel bent down to kiss her again.

But that was when Luce yawned.

"Wow. Is kissing me really that boring?" he jokingly asked.

Luce yawned again. "I'm sorry, Daniel. I barely got any sleep last night."

"I know. It's okay, Luce. I'm exhausted too. Maybe we should just go to sleep."

Luce nodded and yawned for the third time. They went upstairs to the second floor, where Daniel's room was. After they got in bed, Daniel planted a soft kiss on the side of her head and cuddled with her. Luce quickly fell into a deep sleep, feeling perfectly content and loved in his arms.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Hey... Just around one day late, though I was close to making it on time for Wednesday, this time! Happy reading! I'm going to write some more because I need around 2,000 more words to reach 10K by tomorrow, the last day of Camp Nano!

-Cam's hair... I know it's supposed to be long-ish in the book and movie, but since I've been thinking of Cam as looking kinda like Matthew Daddario, I thought his hair should be like him, too. Btw, I hate Cam's hairstyle in the movie. I usually don't like guys who have such long hair they have to tie it up like that. ACTUALLY, FOR THE UNFORGIVEN BOOK, THE GUY THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE CAM ON THE COVER, HIS HAIR IS NOT LONG! LOL. So I don't feel bad for making his hair not long.

-I loved looking up pretty pictures of luxury beach houses for this scene! Take a look at my livejournal page ("link" in my profile!) to see the pics and better picture Daniel's parents' beach villa.

-We finally know what happened to Arriane and Annabelle! Took me a long time to think of that. I randomly thought up the secret club in the rainforest. Partly inspired by a Wizards of Waverly Place episode I watched a long time ago and that nightclub in The Mortal Instruments movie. Lol. I might use that location again later...

-We get some info about what some kinds of angel or demon "work" that they have to do. Lol. I have thought about that kind of stuff a lot! More will be revealed gradually, so you'll know what Cam used to have to do when he's not partying or flirting with girls. Haha.

-I really didn't like how God was referred to as the Throne and was female. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of a female God, but I just feel like going with the traditional male God. I hope you don't mind. It's just something i'm more used to.

-Oh, it turns out that the college soccer season only lasts 3 months during the fall! Though they do train a little during the spring. Well, for my story, let's just pretend it's a 10 month long season like other college sports. there is an article about how some people are trying to make it a year-long thing instead of just three months, actually. so it might become a reality sometime later...

-I'm not sure why I wrote about her being a minor and now she's legal. I don't feel like it's creepy for Daniel to want to sleep with her when she's seventeen but some people might. Hmm. Really...it's so arbitrary that at eighteen it's not creepy, but at 17 it's totally creepy, just because the law says it's not okay if you're under eighteen. Maybe 15 seems a bit too young, but I think 16 or 17 seems okay.

-Sorry to tease you all like that. Lol. I just feel like I need more buildup to Daniel and Luce's first time. I don't know about these kissing/sexy scenes... I feel like I keep repeating myself or saying these generic things, the more I write them. I'm really not looking forward to the sex scenes, which I might just gloss over or make it kind of implied. Hmm.

-LUCE FINALLY TURNED EIGHTEEN! :D


	11. Chapter 11 (flashback: Still Here)

**9:04pm. October 31, 2014.**

A strong gust of wind scattered the dead leaves across the grass and made the candles' flames dance in the orange Mason jars. Luce shivered, her eyes drawn to the dark clouds above that drifted away to reveal the half moon.

Daniel put his arm around her, rubbing her arm. "Are you cold? I can get your jacket from the car."

"No, I'm fine. Just a little chilly." She smiled and huddled closer to him.

"Are you sure? We can go back inside, at least."

"Not yet, I want to hear one more ghost story."

He nodded but kept his arm around her shoulder as the pale vampire guy sitting in the center of the circle of chairs and jars of light began telling the next ghost story. They were in the backyard of one of Aubrey's friend's house, who was having a Halloween party. Luce loved everything about Halloween. The costumes, the spookiness, the ghost stories, and the monsters. There were plenty of people dressed up as the undead, but also a lot of characters that were just very popular. It was bizarre to see Loki (from the Thor movies), Alice (in Wonderland), Sherlock Holmes, Minnie Mouse, and a unicorn girl all chatting and drinking together. She was one of the dead people, Emily from Corpse Bride. She wanted them to wear a couple's Halloween costume, so Daniel was Victor.

"This next story takes place in 1887. Edith Cushing was an American writer who fell in love with a mysterious, charming Englishman, Thomas Sharpe. She impulsively agrees to marry him after a short period of courtship. He takes her back to his home in England, a once majestic but now decaying mansion. Thomas tells her there are certain rooms she must not go in and she starts to hear and see strange things at night. Is the house haunted? What is Thomas's secret?"

"Ooh. I love gothic horror stories," Luce whispered to Daniel.

"You love most things that are gothic-related." He smirked.

"True." She pointed to her costume and grinned.

She focused on what the vampire was saying again.

"The first few nights there, Edith was wondering if she had made a big mistake. She had a feeling that they were not alone, though he insisted they were. He was hiding things from her. But she loved him and he seemed to love her back. He was very gentle and caring and waited until he was sure she was ready to consummate their marriage. In bed, he became wild and passionate. He did not hold anything back. Why couldn't he be honest and straightforward with her all of the time and not just while they were making love?"

"Should I be turned on or scared?" Daniel joked.

"Why not both?" Luce winked. "Oh no. I have to go to the bathroom. Had too much punch. I'll be right back. Tell me what I missed, okay?"

"I will. Don't be too long, ghoul friend."

"That joke is getting real old." She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile as she got up from her fold out chair.

Luce looked around at the people hanging out in the backyard, admiring their costumes as she walked towards the house. She spotted some homemade costumes. There was a petite Asian girl wearing a black suit, black tie and black sunglasses. No doubt she was supposed to be a female Men in Black agent. She was talking to a guy dressed in a Gandalf costume, with a big hat, beard and a staff. He glanced at Luce as she passed by. Their eyes locked for a moment before he turned away. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green.

He said it quietly, but she heard him. "Thou hast finished joy and moan. All lovers young, all lovers must. Consign to thee, and come to dust."

Luce knew that poem about death was meant for her, because of her costume, but she decided to ignore him. As she reached the patio door, she felt like someone was watching her and turned around. Surprisingly it was not Gandalf, but someone who looked just like Luke, her crush from junior high school. But she only saw him for a second and then he was gone, making her wonder if her eyes were playing tricks on her. He looked so handsome in his stylish black suit. But he was glaring at her, and those icy blue eyes gave her chills.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Belated Happy Halloween! Sorry, I know I'm around 1 hour late and it's already November 1st. I've just had a lot of bad luck this month and couldn't get in the mood to write this until recently. **This is just the first part of the Halloween flashback scene. Second part, I hope I will be able to write and post up tomorrow!**

But at least within this past month, I did discover how awesome Tom Hiddleston is (you probably know him as Loki from The Avengers)! He is such a brilliant actor and the nicest, most humble and polite gentleman in real life. Becoming his fan and finding out more about him...mostly watching his video clips have totally made up for all the bad stuff that happened this month! I especially love Loki and so I will try to make one of my characters a lot like him.

That is why the ghost story being told is basically the plot of his movie out in theaters now, Crimson Peak. Well, I changed parts of the story, so don't worry that there are spoilers for the movie. Thank goodness for that movie, though. Not only did it help me become his fan, it helped give me ideas for this story.

Also, there are two new characters introduced in this special Halloween flashback that will show up later on. One of them is very loosely based on me. Lol. Mostly just her appearance and name...


	12. Chapter 12 (Still Here, Part 2)

**Still Here (Part 2)**

The lights above the mirror flickered and dimmed as Luce washed her hands. Must be part of the Halloween theme, she thought. There were fake spider webs hanging from the lights, after all. She smoothed out some tangled strands of her blue wig and reapplied her blue lipstick. The last time she had to go to the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup was around one hour ago, right after "7 minutes in heaven" with Daniel. Thinking about what they did in the dark closet made her heart race and her face hot. Luckily no one would be able to tell, since her face was all blue.

Luce took her phone out of her vintage clutch to take a selfie. She set the timer, made her best scary face, and waited for her phone to take the picture. The picture had a strange red tint to it. Thinking it was just a weird camera glitch, she posed again and took another picture. This time the picture was even more red, and blurry too. And was that a shadowy figure right behind her? Luce screamed and threw her phone in her clutch. The lights flickered rapidly now and all of a sudden it was freezing cold.

"This is not happening. This isn't real!" She tried to reassure herself that it was just a stupid prank someone was playing on her as she grabbed her clutch and then the doorknob.

The doorknob refused to turn, though she jiggled it many times and it was clearly unlocked. Luce started to panic and bang on the door. "Help! Something's wrong with this door! Someone let me out of here!"

The lights went out and Luce screamed. "NO! Let me out! Help! Somebody, let me out, please! This isn't funny!"

Taking her phone out to use as a flashlight, she realized she should call Daniel. But then she heard something from right outside the door. Disturbing, sinister laughter. It made her blood run cold, but she was determined not to let him know how scared she was.

"Okay, you scared me. Very funny. Now let me out, you freak! It's freezing in here!"

"I'm so sorry, Lucinda."

His apology gave her goosebumps. His voice was eerily deep and emotionless. _Who the hell is this guy?_

"I thought you loved Halloween and being scared. Is it too cold for you? I can fix that."

The walls and ceiling burst into flames. Luce screamed and jumped away from the burning door. Fire everywhere. She had always been afraid of fire and had nightmares about being burned to death. _Was this a nightmare? _The suffocating heat and smoke was making it hard to breathe or think. Curling up next to the sink, she shut her eyes and began to cry. _This must be a nightmare, but why does it feel so real? Wake up! Wake up, Luce!_

"I'm going to enjoy breaking your spirit. Little by little, until you beg for death." He waslaughing maniacally again.

Luce sobbed louder and covered her ears. "Why are you doing this? Please stop. I'm begging you!"

Seconds later, Luce woke up with a gasp. She was sweaty and curled up next to the sink. No fire, no smoke, no flickering lights. _Why in the world would I fall asleep in the bathroom?_ But that was the only reasonable explanation. Her breathing gradually slowed and she finally stood up. It was just a bad dream. Luce pulled out her phone to look at the pictures she took. They were gone. Someone knocked on the door loudly, startling her. She immediately turned the doorknob and flung the door open. Daniel seemed relieved to see her.

"What took you so long?"

"Daniel!" Luce hugged him tightly. "I was so scared! I had a awful dream!"

"What are you talking about? Are you okay? You were gone a long time, so I decided to check on you." He rubbed her back soothingly.

Luce explained what happened as he sat on the side of the bathtub and she reapplied her makeup and fixed her hair.

"That _is _really weird. Well, sometimes I doze off in class without realizing it, so maybe that's kind of what happened."

"Yeah, I guess I am kind of tired... Oh, the ghost story! Tell me what happens!"

"Seriously? You were terrified just now and you still want to talk about ghosts?"

"I'm okay now, really. I love ghost stories, but I don't really believe in ghosts. I just like hearing ghost stories on Halloween."

"Oh, Lucinda..." His expression slowly became dark and menacing. "But they are real. Ghosts, angels, demons. I've seen them. In fact, there are some right outside, at this very party. And I don't mean people in monster costumes. They are monsters disguised as humans."

"Why are you being so weird? Don't try to scare me. I've had enough of that tonight."

Daniel laughed in that same sinister way as the guy from her dream, which frightened Luce and made her retreat from him. _What is wrong with him? _He gave her a creepy smile and winked at her. "I'm in character, Luce. I'm Thomas. Play along with me, it'll be fun to do some roleplaying. We're already dressed for the part."

"No. I don't want to. You're scaring me, Daniel. Seriously, that's enough."

He blinked a few times and frowned. "I'm sorry. That was a stupid idea. Come here. It's okay." He hugged her and stroked her hair, calming her down.

Luce hugged him back. "It's okay."

"Really? You'll forgive me?" He pulled away from her, a worried look still on his face.

"Yes, of course."

"I won't believe you unless you kiss me," he whispered, leaning close to her face.

"That's too bad, I don't feel like kissing you at all right now," she lied. He was already so gorgeous in his vintage suit. Now he was in full seduction mode. She had no chance but at least wanted to tease him a little.

He raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you breathing faster? And I'm quite certain you're blushing under all that blue stuff on your face. I hate it. I want to wash it off your face and body myself, preferably in a hot shower." He pointed to the shower. "And we conveniently have one right here, just waiting to be used."

Luce gave up. She grabbed his neck and pulled him down until their lips and bodies crashed together. Daniel easily picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he carried her to the shower and pushed her against the cold tiled wall. His tongue explored her mouth as his hands roamed over her body. He had never kissed her like this before. As if the world was about to end and this was all they had left.

"You're mine. You'll always be mine. No matter what happens." Daniel held her face possessively in his hands, squeezing a little too hard. His piercing gaze made her nervous, but it was also turning her on, how tough and dominant he was right now.

"Always, Daniel. You know I'll never want anyone but you." She gently touched his face but was surprised when he reacted by closing his eyes and letting out a sad sigh.

"Let's go downstairs." He put her down, wiped the blue lipstick from his lips, and quickly left the bathroom.

Luce wondered what was wrong. _Did he think she would break up with him after a short time? What had she done recently to make him misunderstand or doubt her?_ She followed him downstairs to the living room where people were dancingor chatting with each other. Daniel sat down on the empty couch and gestured for her to sit next to him. She managed to give him an awkward smile as she sat down and tried to stop worrying about why he was upset with her. The only guy dressed as an old man at the party, Gandalf, walked pass them. He seemed worried or angry or possibly both. It was hard to tell because his beard covered up most of his face and he had a fake nose on, too. Maybe he was searching for his Men in Black agent friend, because he kept wandering around, muttering to himself.

Daniel cleared his throat and Luce turned to face her boyfriend. His cryptic smile made her uneasy. "Before I tell you the rest of the story, let's play a game."

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

**Posting up Part 2 to celebrate the Unforgiven's release day! :) **Honestly...I don't think I'll like it that much. The plot just doesn't sound that interesting and I feel like I'm going to hate Lilith. But I'm still going to buy the book because...well, I just have to. It's Cam's own book! :P

I apologize for taking so long to finish writing this. **Part 3 should be the last part of this scene. **I've been feeling down and didn't feel like writing... I always tend to get depressed around Nov. and Dec. I'm feeling better now, though. But not sure if I can post a new scene every week. I feel like I'm repeating myself. Lol. Anyway, those of you who have been reading this story should already know that sometimes I post each week, sometimes I take forever. If you get bored while waiting for the new chapter, you can reread my older stories or visit my Instagram (I mentioned it in my notes at the end of one of the past chapters, right?) and see me fangirl about Tom Hiddleston. Haha.

**I've said it before, but I'll say it again. I truly appreciate every review, favorite, follow, message that I get. Thank you very much for showing your support for me and my stories in those ways. Sending you all lots of love!**

Oh, the title of this story, I took from the Digital Daggers song. And I listened to these two pieces of instrumental music (you can find them on Youtube) to get in the right mood to write this scene: Pan's Labyrinth Lullaby - Piano and Violin Version and Victor's Piano Solo [Looped]. Also, Broken Inside by Broken Iris.

The part about the red tint in the picture actually happened to me! I discovered it recenty but the picture was taken by me, using my phone, on my birthday (February of this year). I visited this house/museum that was built in the 1900s. There were rumors that it was haunted. I didn't really experience anything strange in that house, though the other house had a cabinet that rattled for no reason. But could have been because of a truck driving by outside, though I didn't hear it. Anyway, recently I wanted to post that picture on Instagram and it was too dark. I didn't try brightening it up before. Well, when I did, I saw this weird red tint. The more I brightened, the more red it was! It also had some weird digital "static" patterns on it, so i'm sure it was a glitch in the camera. but still...creepy! Was the perfect picture to post last month, with Halloween and my obsession with Crimson Peak happening, though.


	13. Chapter 13 (Still Here, Part 3)

**Still Here (Part 3)**

"What kind of game?"

"It doesn't matter. Pick something. I just want to spend some more time with you before I... before we have to leave."

"How about truth or dare?"

"As you wish." He smiled warmly at her but Luce couldn't return his smile.

"What you said before... If you're mad at me, please just tell me. Did Aubrey tell you about that guy in my class who keeps asking me out? I told her not to tell you. I already told him I have a boyfriend but he keeps bothering me. Did he talk to you? Don't believe anything he says, I don't like him at all!"

Daniel shook his head and gazed at her. "No. You don't understand. Sometimes I just feel like I'm not good enough for you. You're the kindest, sweetest, most beautiful girl I've ever met. Luce, you're an angel. You deserve someone much better than me. Can't you see that? Are you truly content with being with me, with this mundane life? Deep down, don't you feel that you don't belong here?"

"Daniel..." She held his hands in hers. "Don't ever think that. I'm the one who feels like I don't deserve you. And I'm perfectly happy with my life. Being with you, here in Connecticut, this is where I belong."

He didn't seem convinced but he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so lucky you're mine." He tenderly stroked her hair. "Lucky bastard..." he muttered.

Luce laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "So self-deprecating tonight. Come on, let's play. I'll go first. I'll go with dare."

"Sit on my lap." He gave her a cheeky smile, knowing she would do it.

Luce giggled and did as she was told. "That was easy. Your turn."

Daniel wrapped his arms around her waist. "Truth."

"Something surprising about yourself that I don't know?"

"Hmm... There are so many things you don't know about me. Well, I am quite fond of fall."

"Me too, Daniel. That's not so surprising, though. What do you like most about Autumn?"

His eyes darkened as he explained. "You didn't let me finish. The reason I like it is because Autumn is all about celebrating death and darkness. Halloween is a holiday where we enjoy scaring ourselves and others. We dress up in costumes and pretend to be the dead: ghosts, zombies, vampires. It's a time where we can all indulge in our dark sides and dark fantasies. The days get shorter and it gets dark faster. The trees are dying all around us, but it's a beautiful, slow death. They bleed red, orange, and yellow. It's all so morbid yet delightful. What's not to like?"

Luce stared at him. "Wow. I never thought of it that way. I'm learning a lot of interesting things about you today..." He didn't seem himself at all. But she figured he was just trying to be spooky because it was Halloween.

"We all have a dark side, Luce. Even you." His expression was serious for a moment before he grinned. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

He looked at her intently. "Am I the most handsome guy you have ever met?"

"Of course!" Luce replied without hesitation.

"You're lying," he calmly said. "You don't have to be afraid that you'll hurt my feelings. Just tell me the truth."

"Umm... Okay, I guess maybe there was one person. Luke. He might be just a little more handsome than you. But just a little."

She was expecting him to frown, but instead he gave her a dazzling smile. "Is that so? Then why aren't you with him instead?" Again, she was confused by his contrary behaviour but she was too distracted by her memories of Luke to ask him why he was strangely happy about this.

Luce shrugged. "He moved away years ago. I didn't know him very well at all."

"That's a shame. I'm sure he misses you," he softly said.

"I doubt it. Nevermind, let's not talk about him. Truth or dare?" She tried to act like she didn't care about him that much, but the truth was she had a pretty big crush on him. She still thought about him and wondered how he was doing sometimes.

Daniel seemed curious about Luke and reluctant to change the subject. But after a long pause, he replied. "Dare."

Luce picked up a small bottle of hot sauce on the coffee table that said "INFERNO SAUCE" on the label. She poured a little into an empty red plastic cup and gleefully handed it to him. Just a whiff of it already made her cough and her eyes burn.

"Drink this."

Daniel laughed but took the cup. "I'd love to." He downed it all in one gulp and showed her the empty cup. He seemed fine. No coughing, getting red in the face or sweating.

Luce's mouth dropped open. "How did you do that?"

Daniel smiled mischievously. "Let's just say I've experienced worse. This inferno is nothing compared to the ones I've gotten a taste of."

"I'm impressed! I never knew you had such a high tolerance for spicy food. But don't even think about daring me to drink it. It's my turn, and I pick truth."

"Hmm. Most embarassing thing that happened to you recently?"

Luce covered her face with her hands, remembering how mortified she was. "Aubrey caught me watching Frozen on my laptop and singing along to the songs. I had my headphones on, so I had no idea she was back so soon! I know I'm too old for that stuff, but I can't help it. I love the songs."

Daniel laughed and patted her back. "It's okay. I think it's cute that you like it. As long as you don't make me watch it with you."

"I won't." Luce laughed. "What about you, Daniel? Tell me one of your guilty pleasures."

"What's my guilty pleasure? The thing is, I never feel guilty about pleasures," he said seductively. He picked up a candlestick with a white candle from the coffee table. Luce instinctively retreated but Daniel grasped her arm and held her firmly in place.

"You know what gives some people pleasure? Seeing their lover suffer, fearful..." he whispered. He held the candle so close to her face, she flinched from the heat on her cheek.

Luce was so frightened, she was speechless and motionless. Daniel's heated gaze followed the flame as he moved the candle dangerously close to her hair, then slowly down, gliding it over her arm. "It's a twisted kind of love, isn't it? He loves her, yet he also despises her. He doesn't want to enjoy torturing her but she _ruined_ him."

"What are you talking about?" She demanded as soon as he set the candlestick down on the table and released her arm.

He ignored her question and continued speaking, his face etched with sorrow, pain in his eyes. He looked to be on the verge of tears. "And he knows he could never love her the way she wants him to, yet he loves her still. He only ever wanted her to stay by his side..."

"Daniel! What's gotten into you? I don't understand what you're saying! You're scaring me." Luce was completely confused, touched, and scared all at once.

Daniel looked down for a moment, took a deep breath, and exhaled. When his eyes met hers again, his expression was a mixture of concern and anguish.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to help you get over your fear of fire, Luce. And I was remembering a tragic love story that I read a long time ago. I'll tell you the whole story in due time."

"Am I too late for story time? What fairy tales have you been telling her, _Daniel_?"

Luce and Daniel both turned around and saw the guy in the Gandalf costume looming over them.

"Well, look who's here. It's my old friend, Gandalf. It's been too long. Glad you could make it," he sarcastically said.

"I heard that you might show up tonight. I had trouble finding you, though. I didn't recognize you in that... costume. And your friends were very distracting."

Luce nervously looked back and forth at the guy only known as Gandalf and then Daniel. Tension filled the air between them.

"Did you now? It's just as well. I have nothing to say to you."

Gandalf ignored Daniel and sat down on the couch next to her. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine. Uh...who are you?"

He smiled and seemed relieved but remained silent.

"You heard her. She's fine. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to talk to my girlfriend alone."

"Hmm. I'm pretty tired. I think I'll wait here for my friends. They might want to talk to you, too. Maybe Arriane can call your father and all of us can have a nice little reunion."

"You will _not _call father. I don't want to talk to him and you know how busy he is," Daniel hissed.

"If you don't want me to, then leave her alone," Gandalf threatened.

"What the hell is going on? Who are you? Daniel is not bothering me, he's my boyfriend. What do you want?"

They glared at each other some more before Daniel finally spoke. "Don't worry about him, Luce. He's nobody. We just need to have a little discussion and clear some things up. Some misunderstandings... But let me tell you the rest of that ghost story, first. He won't mind waiting a while longer."

Gandalf only crossed his arms and exhaled. He picked up a can of beer from the bowl of ice on the coffee table, opened it, and took a big gulp.

"That reminds me..." Daniel reached inside his suit pocket and pulled out a small, antique silver flask. "I had some vodka earlier, so forgive me if I've been acting a little strange, darling. I'm a bit drunk." He winked at her and put the flask away.

"Well, that explains a lot! But you almost never drink! And why don't I smell it on your breath?"

"It's Halloween. I thought a little alcohol would help me be more spontaneous and fun. I chewed some gum while you were in the bathroom."

"Oh...well it also makes you kind of creepy, Daniel. Please don't drink anymore."

Gandalf chuckled quietly and Daniel scowled at him before he faced Luce, a solemn expression on his face. "No more. I promise."

He pulled her close to him and she rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Now, let me tell you the rest of the story." Luce nodded.

"Let's see... So, Edith starts to see these ghastly, disfigured ghosts when she wanders around the house late at night. Thomas is usually conveniently still working in his office or fell asleep there, so he has no idea this is going on. After they try to kill her a few times, she finally figures out that something is seriously wrong and that it's not just her imagination, like her husband insists. Edith tells Thomas what has been happening and begs him to sell the house and move elsewhere. But he just tells her that she must be having nightmares or was sleepwalking. To reassure her, he goes to sleep at the same time as her every night. Once he does, she stops hearing the ghosts' wailing in the middle of the night, though the house still creaks and groans a lot. Oh, did I mention that the house itself seems alive and it also wants her dead? It's pretty obvious, actually. The two windows are the eyes, the fireplace is the mouth, and the house literally breathes when the wind blows a certain way. Also, Thomas lives with his younger brother, Christopher. But he rarely leaves his room and doesn't talk much even when he does."

"Is he as handsome as Thomas?" Luce asks.

Daniel laughed. "He is cute, but Thomas is more striking and charismatic. Well, he is only sixteen years old, while Edith is nineteen and Thomas is twenty-nine."

"Oh..." Luce said.

"Thomas is also a writer and is writing a book, so he mostly only sees Edith at night. He writes in his office, she reads books in the library. Or she wanders around the house and notices strange things, such as how wicked their mother looked in the painting on the wall, there are butterflies everywhere, and the house creaks and groans ominously all the time. She does some snooping around and keeps asking Thomas if he has seen the ghosts but he repeatedly denies seeing any and says he doesn't know about any murders occurring in the house before his family started living there. They have sex a lot more after Thomas starts going to bed and stays in bed with her for the whole night. A month later, as winter arrives, Edith finds out she is pregnant. She is very happy, but Thomas unexpectedly seems sad to hear the news."

"Oh no. I hope the baby will be okay. Wait, I hope Thomas will somehow survive. But I can tell there won't be a happy ending." Luce sighed.

"I'm sorry, Luce... But it's a ghost story, after all. Do you want me to keep going?" He gently rubbed her shoulder.

"It's okay. Please continue..."

"Alright... So, one night Edith wakes up from a nightmare and Thomas isn't there. She hears him and Christopher arguing about something in the office. A ghost that looks like her husband's father, which she had seen photos of, appears and doesn't try to hurt her like the other female ghosts. He leads her to the library and points to the huge painting of Thomas's mother, hanging on the wall. Edith checks behind the painting and discovers a small journal stuck in the frame. It's her husband's because she recognizes his handwriting. In it is all of Thomas's secrets. He wrote down everything in hopes of someone finding it in the future and understanding why he did what he did. Because he knew he would probably die young."

"No...poor Thomas..." Luce clung to Daniel as he stroked her back.

"Shh...it's just a story, don't get all upset."

"I know...keep going."

"So... Thomas's father, William, cheated on his mother, Alice, for many years. Maybe around six years, if she guessed correctly. During that time, he traveled a lot, supposedly for work-related reasons, and spent too much money. The mansion and his business, a publishing company, started to suffer from his neglect and the lack of funds to maintain it. He adopted Christopher but she guessed that he must be William's and his mistress's son. But she had no proof. Until one night five years ago, when she returned in the middle of the night, though she was supposed to spend a few days in town. Thomas and Christopher were woken up by all the yelling. They ran to their father's room and saw him in bed with a blonde woman and their mother screaming at him. At least they still had some clothes on. William admitted that Christopher was his son, and the blonde woman, Jessica, was his mother. He apologized so many times and begged her to calm down, but Alice was furious and took out a pistol from her purse. She shot Jessica in the chest, killing her instantly. William cried and hugged her lifeless body before he apologized to his sons for not being a good enough father and told Thomas to take care of his little brother from now on. He told Alice he had stopped loving her a long time ago because she is a selfish, cruel woman. He jumped off the balcony of the third floor and died. Alice just about went insane with rage at that point and tries to stab Christopher with a knife that she had in her purse. Thomas tried to stop her, but in the struggle, he ends up stabbing her in the chest. Before she died, she swore that she would haunt the house forever."

"Oh my god..." Luce gasped.

"How long is this story, anyway?" Gandalf grumbled.

Daniel ignored Gandalf and continued. "I know, right? But wait, there's more. Soon, the ghost of their mother tries to kill Christopher. Her vengeful spirit took over the whole house, and she used it in her attempts to kill him. Such as dropping chandeliers, knocking over bookshelves, etc. Well, the brothers tried to leave the house and sell it but everytime they do, she traps Christopher in a room somehow, and tortures him until Thomas agrees to come back. Their ghost father and his ghost mistress seemed to have left the house after they died, or are just not as powerful as Alice and so they can't help the brothers at all. But Alice still loves Thomas and doesn't want him to ever leave the mansion. Thomas agrees to stay there but begs and pleads her to stop attacking Christopher. Finally, she agrees, but only if Thomas seduces, impregnates, and kills six blonde women. One for each year that William cheated on her. Thomas is horrified but reluctantly agrees. The last five years, Thomas was able to find five women from different countries who had no family and few friends to wonder what happened to them once they disappear a while later. Sometimes they survived until they got pregnant, but other times, ghost Alice killed them before that, if he took too long to get them pregnant. Thomas always tried to pick women who had awful personalities so that he could avoid falling in love with them. But he still felt very guilty about tricking them to come there, pretending that he loved them, sleeping with them, then killing them or letting his ghost mother kill them. When she didn't kill them herself, she would force him to kill them in certain gruesome ways, such as stabbing them with a knife in the-"

"No! I don't want to know! Please skip that part." Luce said with a shudder.

"Okay... So, the brothers buried all the bodies afterwards and no one ever suspected anything because they live a pretty isolated life in this mansion and rarely get any visitors. They explain to the few people working for them at the mansion that the women left Thomas after finding out he cheated on them. Everything has gone according to plan for the past five years. That is, until Thomas met Edith in America. He tried and failed to seduce four blonde women before he met her. He was running out of time. If he was gone too long, his ghost mother would assume he was not coming back and kill his little brother. Edith was the first woman he had ever been truly attracted to. She was so beautiful, intelligent, kind, and also a writer, like him. He really didn't want to choose her, but he had no choice."

"Oh...she was his first love. And his last." Luce said.

"That's right... He knew their love was doomed, but he couldn't stop himself from falling in love with her. He started to hope that he could somehow change his ghost mother's mind. After all, they already killed five people. Maybe that was enough. He also tried to avoid sleeping with Edith but after she saw the ghosts, he had to. He told himself to not make love to her, because that might keep her alive longer, but he loved her so much, he couldn't stop himself. And now she was already pregnant and he was dreading what would happen next. He had to try to stop his ghost mother somehow! This is all he wrote in his journal so far. Edith rushed to his office and told Thomas that his ghost father lead her to his journal and she knows everything. Thomas tearfully apologized and said that despite what he did in the past, he will save her. Ghost Alice appeared and demanded he kill Edith or else she would kill both Edith and Christopher. Thomas refused and hugged both of them, saying that he's killed too many people for her already. They tried to run out of the house but ghost Alice and the ghosts of the other five women made things fall on them to try to kill them. Christopher himself tried to push Edith down the stairs but Thomas was able to pull her out of the way and he fell down and died. Thomas was shocked and sad that his brother died, but Christopher had argued in his office that Edith must die. Despite knowing how Thomas felt about her, he wanted her dead. Though he loved his brother, Christopher's childhood was a nightmare and he understandably became very paranoid and had no friends except his older brother. He lacked empathy and never got close enough to anybody to care for or love them. Maybe death was a way to set him free. Now he could finally leave this cursed mansion and miserable life behind."

"Christopher gets to go live with his ghost dad and ghost stepmother," Luce said.

"You're right! That's a nice way of thinking about it." Daniel said.

Gandalf yawned in an exaggerated way and Daniel rolled his eyes at him. "Okay, I get it. I'm almost done. Thomas and Edith set the house on fire while all the ghosts were distracted, celebrating Christopher's death. Ghost Alice made a knife fly out at Thomas and it stabbed him in the thigh."

Daniel pulled out a pen from inside his suit and acted out the part that Thomas got stabbed in the thigh. Luce winced. "She made another one fly out at Edith but Thomas pushed her away and got stabbed in his stomach." He dramatically pretend-stabbed himself with the pen.

"No! Poor Thomas!" she said.

"They were able to escape as the house starts collapsing. But Thomas is badly injured and bleeding a lot. It is snowing outside. They look back at the burning mansion and see all the ghosts flew away, except for Alice. Ghost Christopher and their ghost father and stepmother lingered near Thomas, watching and waiting to see if he would join them. Edith was crying as she told them to leave, that Thomas would not die. She held him close, trying to keep him warm. They couldn't stay there. She needed to try to help him walk to the town, but it would take a whole day to walk there. Thomas told her he wasn't going to make it, but he was glad that she was safe. She refused to accept that. People from town would see the fire and get some carriages and come save them. But Thomas was bleeding so much, even after she tore some fabric from her nightgown to dress his wounds. She was freezing cold, too. He told her to not be sad, that he deserves to die for all the lives he took. He said he regrets all the things he did, but especially bringing Edith here and putting her in danger. Edith said it's not his fault, but he insists that he's a monster and that love makes monsters of us all."

Daniel paused and quietly repeated the phrase. "Love makes monsters of us all..." Gandalf and Daniel stared at each other for a moment, their expressions unreadable.

"Daniel?" Luce looked up at him. Tears welled up in her eyes. She hated sad endings.

"Don't cry, Luce." Daniel sighed and gave her a hug.

"Sorry, where was I... Oh, right. Thomas doubted she could still love him after knowing all the terrible things he did in his past. How could she? But Edith said she still loved him and forgave him for lying to her. And he killed those women in order to save his brother. She understood that he had no choice and she thinks if she was him, she might have done the same thing."

Daniel paused again. "Luce, what if you were Edith? Could you still love Thomas? Even though he's a monster?"

Luce thought for a moment. "Yes, I think I would still love him. Because he's a good person who was forced to do bad things. He's not inherently evil. He didn't want to or enjoy killing people."

Gandalf and Daniel locked eyes again but remained expressionless.

"Hmm... I see." He seemed tense but then slowly relaxed again. "You're right. Okay, what happened next... Edith kissed Thomas and he told her he would always love her and stay by her side, even if he became a ghost. Edith said she won't let him die and pulled him closer to the burning house so they could stay warm. A few hours later..."

Luce was sobbing quietly as Gandalf groaned.

"A few hours later, some people arrived in carriages and rescued them. Thomas was brought to a hospital. They were able to save him and after a month, he had fully recovered!"

"What? Really? I thought he would die! You said he would die!" She dabbed at her eyes with a tissue before hugging him hard. "Oh my god, he made it! He's alive!" She pulled away to face him. "Then what?"

"They moved to Paris! Just as Edith had wanted. They both became famous, successful writers. Also, Edith wrote a ghost story loosely based on Thomas's life. The end!"

"Aww... I'm so glad it's a happy ending!" She hugged him again and they smiled at each other. "Thanks for telling me the rest of the story. I loved it."

"It's my pleasure." He gently kissed her on the lips.

"Umm... That's not how the story ended," Gandalf said.

"_Yes_, it is," Daniel said.

"No, I was there in the backyard listening to the guy telling the story. That's not what happened."

"Daniel? Did he die? It's okay, you can tell me," Luce said, disappointed.

"_No_, he didn't. It's just like I told you. Don't listen to him. He's just trying to upset you. It was one of those endings with a twist. We all expect him to die, therefore he doesn't die."

Luce stared at Gandalf and he shrugged. "Nevermind, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm just glad it's over. Come on, Daniel. We need to talk." He stood up and angled his head toward the backyard.

"Fine..." Daniel glared at him before he looked at her sadly. "I'll miss you, Luce."

"Daniel, you act like you'll be gone a long time. You'll be right back, right?"

He looked down and sighed. But when he looked up, he gave her a gorgeous smile. "Of course. I'll be back soon. I just have to go talk to Gandalf. If I could be any Lord of the Rings character, I would be Sauron. Villains have more fun, right?"

Luce laughed and nodded as Daniel stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to destroy Middle-earth," he deadpanned.

Luce laughed again and Daniel smiled at her once more before turning to follow Gandalf outside. She sat back down on the couch and smiled to herself, knowing Daniel made up an alternate ending to the story to make her happy.

After around ten minutes of people-watching and chatting with Aubrey a bit before she left, Gandalf came back with Daniel. But Daniel seemed a bit confused and dizzy. He was holding her black hoodie.

"Are you okay, Daniel? Oh, thanks for getting my hoodie." Luce stood up and took the zip up hoodie from him and slipped it on.

"I guess... But I could have sworn I went to the car to get your jacket after you went to the bathroom. Then the stupid locks were stuck and I couldn't get out of the car for a long time. And then this guy in the Gandalf costume came over and somehow was able to open the door for me."

"How could you have been stuck in the car all this time? You were with me. You're drunk, Daniel. Though you seemed fine earlier. That's weird."

Gandalf patted him on the shoulder. "That's what I told him. We had a little chat and then he went to the car to get your jacket. Maybe it's a delayed thing. It's only affecting him now. Don't be surprised if he forgets what you guys did or talked about earlier."

"Oh... Okay, I know. Thank you." Luce stepped closer to Daniel and held him by his waist as he leaned against her, swaying a little.

Gandalf nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait! What's your name?" Luce asked.

He turned around and smiled. "It's Gandalf. Happy Halloween, Luce."

She grinned. "Happy Halloween, Gandalf."

Gandalf headed for the open front door, weaving in and out of the crowd with his big staff until he reached the entrance. He turned around one last time to look at her before he left. She didn't even know his name or see his face. Luce wondered who that mysterious wizard was and if she would ever see him again.

* * *

**Kate's Notes:**

Finally! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and the other parts of this Halloween flashback. It was supposed to be really short but ended up so long and taking forever. lol. NEXT CHAPTER WILL CONTINUE WHERE CHAPTER 10 LEFT OFF. YAY! FINALLY CAN GET BACK TO THE MAIN STORY.

-I AM SO DISAPPOINTED IN THE NEW CAM BOOK, UNFORGIVEN. SIGHHHH. i bought the hardcover soon after it was released and read a few chapters before i got so bored, i skimmed through the whole thing. someone wrote a review at amazon that summed up my feelings about it so well. it was so boring, and cam seemed like a different person. he wasn't cam-like at all. hate lilith, just like i thought i would. lucifer also sucked. it was just so...BLAH. the story, characters, everything so boring. sigh. hoping the movie will not suck, too. it's coming out in the fall of next year, i think. STILL NO TRAILER or even a movie poster or teaser. gahhhhhh.

-sorry i took forever to read/reply to reviews. i was too nervous. but from now on i'll try to at least respond to reviews quickly. unless you say something rude/mean/ i just don't want to reply for some reason/etc.

-Sadly, I wrote so little during November. Nanowrimo! yet i think i only wrote around 3K. that was including my alternate ending for Crimson Peak that i wrote on my instagram posts. lol.

-sorry for tricking you! but remember how lucifer is a shapeshifter and he turned into daniel that one time. i figure he does it sometimes to hang out with luce when he misses her. umm. like i said, i am obsessed with loki and love how complex a character he is. just a mix of evil/potentially good/victim/insecure/arrogant/etc. i am trying to give lucifer more depth... of course he is still the villain, but like hiddleston says, "every villain sees himself as the hero" or something like that.

i'm not sure how many of you reading are fans of lucifer (lauren kate's version or him as a character in general, from comics/books/tv/movies/etc.) but i hope you will like my version of him, too.

-sorry about any typos or present/past tense or grammar/other mistakes! starting from the part where he tells the story, i didn't reread a lot to check for mistakes. it's just too long. lol. i kind of rushed through the ghost story and the end of this chapter cuz i just wanted to get it done, so the quality of the writing went down a bit. lol. sorry.

-How'm I Supposed to Die by Civil Twilight. THIS SONG IS AMAZING. i liked it cuz of the thor + loki "how am i supposed to die" fanmade video i saw on youtube. i listened to it a lot while writing this. it really sets the right mood for this chapter because it's all about betrayal, hopelessness, angst, jealousy, tragedy, lost love, death, etc. very dark stuff...

also, "edith's theme" from the crimson peak soundtrack. you can find them both on spotify. also, "dream is collapsing" and "time" from Inception soundtrack.

-"What's my guilty pleasure? The thing is, I never feel guilty about pleasures." THIS IS A QUOTE I TOOK FROM TOM HIDDLESTON. LOL. exact quote. i also tried to put in some phrases loki or thomas sharpe (from crimson peak) said. haha. loki said "excuse me, i have to destroy jotenheim". i love loki's sarcasm. haha. i might put in more hiddleston or loki quotes later just cuz i love how eloquent/intelligent/poetic they sound...

-"love makes monsters of us all" this is a quote from and theme of Crimson Peak. i don't exactly agree with it, but then again, it is kind of true. i think it's at least more realistic than how lauren kate idealized love too much in the books. love is everything, always choose love, blah blah blah. sorry, i just think those parts are so cheesy, but that's just my opinion.

-i realize that the ghost story takes up like 2/3 of this chapter. lol. sorry, i wrote too much. for the longest time, i had trouble thinking up a story that is kind of similar to the one in crimson peak but also different enough to not give away spoilers in case you haven't watched and want to watch it. IT'S A GREAT MOVIE! i took some ideas for the story from the movie, but in a lot of ways, it's quite different and much darker and better than my story.

or just read the Crimson Peak book! it's quite good. though of course i recommend you see the movie because it's beautiful, scary, touching, romantic, and tom hiddleston is amazing in it, as usual. was interesting to read a book based on a movie for a change, though.


	14. Chapter 14 (Kate's Notes)

**KATE'S NOTES**

Hey everyone!

As always, thank you so much for following/reviewing/favoriting my stories. Sorry I haven't written anything in so long. I just haven't had time, or not in the mood, or my ideas aren't great... I might write one-shots or short stories sometimes, but I don't know when... I was thinking of writing 1 or 2 short stories recently but then I changed my mind again. lol. maybe if i keep them really short one-shots, i will be able to actually write them. Please do follow or favorite me as an author (I forgot which one it is. lol.), not just do that for some of my stories, so that you will be notified if I post up a new story! Thanks!

I still get favorites or follows sometimes for this or other stories I wrote. And each time I feel bad that I've left this story unfinished. So... I finally decided to just let you all know what I was planning on writing. I'm 99% sure I won't be able to continue writing this story because I just don't have the patience to put so much time and effort into writing the rest of this story, which I'm guessing would take at least 10 more long chapters. Even though I can't finish writing, at least I want you all to know what would have happened. Just wanted to give you guys and my stories some closure. Also, for me too, I am happier knowing how my story would have ended.

Before I do that, though, **just wanted all of you American Fallen fans to know that the Fallen movie is finallyyyy going to be released this August in the United States, according to Lauren Kate! yesssssss. **thoughthey've delayed it many times, but it's been released in many other countries, so hopefully this time they won't delay it again.

So, below are 3 versions of the story. I change my mind a lot about what I want to happen in the story. These are the 3 main versions that I thought of. The 2nd half of Version 3, i just made up really quickly today, so sorry if the story really sucks or doesn't make much sense. lol. =P Also, I apologize in advance for any typos, because I just want to get this done and don't have time to check for typos.

ANYONE WHO WANTS TO USE THESE NOTES TO WRITE A FANFICTION, GO AHEAD! BUT PLEASE GIVE ME SOME CREDIT. SAY THAT YOU GOT THE IDEA FROM ME ORIGINALLY, OR SOMETHING. you have my permission. because i feel like it's a waste that i came up with these ideas, but never use it.

Oh, wait. I want you to know that this story was inspired by the Buffy/Spike relationship at first. Lol. I really liked their love/hate relationship (though i know their's was very messed up in certain ways), and I really like forbidden/problematic relationships. So, Cam was supposed to really hate her but also still like her a lot. And they would argue a lot or seem to hate each other, but with this constant undercurrent of intense attraction. lots of sexual tension, etc. but i ended up making cam just kind of cold towards her and not outright hate her. lol. so that didn't really work out.

but i still wanted to include this scene where one of them is dreaming and they are racing on the college's track field at night. cam wins and they argue back and forth. luce follows him into the empty men's locker room, saying she wants to race again, best 2 out of 3, blah blah blah. they get really close to each other's faces, arguing, then cam grabs her and pushes her against the lockers. he kisses her and suddenly they're making out like crazy. they quickly get naked enough from the waist down so that he can bang her (literally) against the lockers. so, yeah... just really hot, rough hate sex. lol. inspired by that buffy/spike scene where they finally had sex and the whole place collapsed around them. hahaha.

* * *

**VERSION 1:**

-cam's clue before Luce's bday party:

**"Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss." **-John Milton, Paradise lost

Lucifer appears as a gold-colored snake at the party and there are a bunch of other snakes (demons) that show up, scaring everyone.

**(BY THE WAY, IF YOU ARE A FAN OF LUCIFER, CHECK OUT PARADISE LOST QUOTES OR JUST LOOK UP EXPLANATIONS ABOUT IT... INTERESTING STUFF! lucifer has so many great speeches and everything is beautifully written.)**

-there's supposed to be a scene where cam and luce dance, then go in a room to get some privacy to talk and he's warning her about how she's in danger. and the room has a fireplace. and that makes luce remember her dream. she asks if that was from a past life and cam admits that it really happened and they used to be lovers.

-lucifer framed their two angel friends (the bar fight). they were not even there, it was 2 demons who shape-shifted and appeared as them. this was to make sure cam had to protect luce, so that they had to be together a lot and might result in an affair.

-God and a lot of other angels are busy fighting against some aliens (i know, this is a weird idea. lol... i might have not used it...)

-Cam has black wings. Because after the end of Rapture, Lucifer hated him for helping ruin his plans, so he turned his wings black. roland's wings are black, too.

-Lucifer was never serious about killing Luce. He just wanted Cam to be close to her, hoping that she would cheat on Daniel and destroy their relationship. He also doesn't like Cam, but he hates Daniel more, so he'd rather Luce be with Cam.

-Luce and Daniel go to a park overlooking the sea. they have a romantic midnight picnic (kinda like a tea party). and then they have sex for the first time in a tent. a comfortable, big tent, though... )

**-lucifer attacks luce sometimes and cam saves her each time. Luce does have an affair with Cam. lucifer tells daniel. Daniel is heartbroken but realizes love isn't everything and he'll find someone better than Luce. Focuses on his studies and soccer. Luce and Cam stay together.**

-Cam's past: He was like the angel of death, taking souls of bad/evil people to hell. roland and others who work for lucifer all did this and they hate it. but not all the time. it's like jury duty, where you only have to do it sometimes, depending if you're unlucky and get chosen. if you are, though, you have to do it for around 3 years. Cam has lived so long, so he's probably had to do it a lot.

-Why Cam has a grudge against Luce: In that one past life that she had an affair with him... Later on, Daniel found out about the affair and he and Cam were fighting. Things were getting pretty dangerous and Cam started to choke Daniel. She begged Cam to let him go but he wouldn't listen. Luce grabbed a knife from a table and stabs Cam in the back. Cam collapses and Luce said she's sorry, but she realized that she never truly loved Cam. Daniel is the only person she ever loved and she regrets her affair with Cam. Cam is very hurt because she never really loved him AND she "killed" him to save Daniel. After that life, he still sometimes flirts with Luce, but mostly just to make Daniel angry. He doesn't believe it's possible for her to really love him.

-Nick character: He's supposed to also like Luce now, because he discovers that he's bi. lol. the guy he brings to the party is just pretending to be his boyfriend to see if Luce gets jealous because she still likes him. he was also maybe supposed to teach her some martial arts. but then later i thought i'd probably just eliminate that character because he's not necessary to the story. i originally had this idea about nick and luce having sex after she confessed to him back then because he felt sorry for her and also wanted to know if he was really gay (and daniel being upset later on when he found out she lied about that). but then i decided not to do that. also had this idea of lucifer possessing nick sometimes and being creepy and flirty with luce, but i decided that was stupid, too. lol.

-aubrey character: no idea what to do with her, really. lol. might have eliminated her somehow...

* * *

**VERSION 2:**

Lucifer kidnaps cam, luce, daniel and brings them to an island where he plays mind games and humiliates them in different ways. kind of like a reality show (but his demon minions are watching), where they have almost no privacy, living in this luxury, modern mansion, and he tries to turn them against each other. he also tries to get luce to cheat on daniel with cam (forces them to act in a play where they are a couple and have to kissing, sex scenes, etc), but when she doesn't, he still tricks/traps them into doing certain stuff that causes daniel to think they are having an affair.

(NOT SURE HOW THIS WOULD END... probably lucifer realizes daniel and luce can't be broken up and he admits he was wrong and let them go?)

* * *

**VERSION 3: **

**(some ideas from version 1 remains true in version 3)**

-bella thorne/tyler posey: i was thinking of picturing luce as bella and cam as tyler. hmm... but then changed my mind later

-Lucifer is not the bad guy. his ex-girlfriend demon who got jealous because she thinks he still likes Luce made it seem like he wanted to kill her. Lucifer has gotten over Luce, but his ex doesn't believe him.

-at the beach house, there's suddenly a big storm and a huge tornado forms over the ocean. cam wakes up daniel and luce and tells them they have to leave NOW. but they are not fast enough and they all get sucked up into the tornado. cam lets out his wings and tries to grab daniel and luce and save them, but the tornado is too powerful. then, Lucifer suddenly appears and gold light surrounds each of them. then they disappear and reappear in the sky, above an island. they all fall, but cam manages to grab them all, including lucifer (who seems injured and can't fly) and fly them to the ground safely.

-this is the secret island belonging to lucifer's current demon girlfriend, who can protect them from his ex, for a short time.

-lucifer will need some time to recover from his injuries that he got from fighting his ex, trying to stop her from creating the tornado. one wing is badly injured, i guess...

-cam and lucifer explain to daniel and luce their past, as angels, basically everything that happened.

-lucifer gives them some special weapons that can be used against powerful demons like his ex and says cam has to train daniel and luce to use them, maybe within a month, so they can leave the island before she finds them here and attacks them. they need to get roland to help them too. other angels all busy or unwilling to help them or something...

-but she has a lot of demon minions, so the chance of them surviving is low

-luce and cam have feelings for each other, but she doesn't cheat on daniel. a lot of cute/romantic/flirty cam/luce moments... cam forgives her for "killing" him in the past. lots of sweet daniel/luce moments too, but i think there would be more of cam/luce.

-everyone, including recovered lucifer go to fight his ex. the ex kills luce pretty quickly despite how the others try to protect her. luce's soul/ghost goes to heaven (she can't go back down to earth to visit daniel and can't communicate with him in anyway). cam, lucifer are injured but ok. the ex teleports away. daniel tries to commit suicide to join luce, but cam stops him. he says his family, friends would be really sad if he died. so, daniel sadly goes back to college and eventually falls in love with some girl, becomes a professional soccer player, gets married, has kids, etc. luce watches all this from heaven and is happy for him. lucifer is forgiven by God for trying to save luce and allowed back into heaven. cam and roland can come too. all their wings are white again. they and luce live happily as friends in heaven. cam and luce become a couple and lucifer and roland each find someone to love, too. oh, God punishes the ex that killed luce by turning her into a fly and she soon dies. because flies only live for 28 days. but i guess cam can't really touch her because she's a ghost/soul now. not sure. hmm. at least they get to spend time together and stuff... maybe cam can sometimes get his soul out of his body for a short time so he and luce can kiss and stuff... lol.

after around 60 years, daniel dies from cancer. he shows up in heaven and looks for luce, but she's still with cam (so they've been together 60 years). that's ok, though, since daniel still misses his wife and kids. daniel will wait for his wife to die and join him in heaven. everyone is together and happy. THE END.


End file.
